


For the Second Time

by SummerRoses0612



Series: Avengers Watch [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: #Team Iron Man, A tiny bit, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Avengers Watch Iron Man 2, Awesome Clint Barton, But more out of habit than malice, Chronic Illness, Chronic Pain, Civil War Team Iron Man, Clint makes dirty jokes, DO NOT COPY, Everyone Has Issues, F/M, Hurt Tony Stark, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Torture, Iron Man 2, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Natasha Romanov Has Issues, Natasha Romanov Is Not A Robot, Natasha Romanov is So Done, Natasha still isn't amused, No Team as Family, Not Pepper Potts Friendly, Not Rhodey Friendly, Not Team As Family, Past Child Abuse, Past Medical Torture, Past Torture, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Natasha Romanov, Same with Rhodey, Timeline What Timeline, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Has Nightmares, Tony Stark Has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Still Has Arc Reactor, avengers watch the movies, do not copy to another site, dying tony stark, heavy metal poisoning, not team Cap friendly, so kind of?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-11 09:08:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 47,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28468776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SummerRoses0612/pseuds/SummerRoses0612
Summary: The Team are trapped for another forced movie night. Then they find out the reality of the Stark 'ego gone crazy'? Expo?
Relationships: Bruce Banner/Tony Stark, Bruce Banner/Tony Stark/Thor
Series: Avengers Watch [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2153661
Comments: 43
Kudos: 282





	1. Vanko

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the fandoms that are listed.
> 
> Warning- This story contains: PTSD, discussion of torture, etc. 
> 
> Read the tags and be careful, TheLittleVixen asked if I was going to do Iron Man 2 and I thought 'why not?'.

After the first movie, Tony had thought that just maybe they had made a breakthrough. It only took a week for the team to slowly start going back to the way it was before and by the time a month had passed they found all new reasons to hate him. The only difference from the first time they had disregarded him was that he had Thor and Bruce. 

They were a godsend, Bruce with his innate understanding of exactly who Tony was and why he did the things that he did. Thor, when he finally allowed himself to relax, turned out to be smart and kind and thoughtful. They just fit, in a way that the resident billionaire hadn't gotten along with anyone since the beginning days with Rhodey.

This was why Tony was supremely pissed when he once again woke up in the living room. 

"Seriously?" The billionaire sighed, getting off the floor and sitting in between his partners. 

They had moved the furniture around but it was right back where it was the first time, the windows switched to one way, and Jarvis momentarily disconnected. For round two Rhodey, Pepper, Bruce, Thor, and Tony were on one side while Steve, Natasha, Clint, and Wanda were on the other. Nick was in the middle, like some screwed up mediator joke. 

Nobody made eye contact until Natasha finally got fed up and grabbed the package on the coffee table. 

_"Dear Avengers and Nick Fury,"_ The redhead started for the second time. _"I thought that one movie would be enough to convince you all of your mistakes. I was clearly wrong. Can I get round applause for the newly made sequel? The tower will be on lockdown once again until you have all watched the contents of the DVD and then you are free to go. Let's try that open-minded approach this time? I've only got a couple more options before I get more dramatic. -From a fan."_

Nobody from the couches said anything as Natasha loaded up the movie, Tony having gotten the ancient DVD player while the assassin was reading the letter. 

**Almost at once, a voice started talking - Tony's voice.** **". . .there's been speculation that I was involved in the events that occurred on the freeway and the rooftop. . ."**

"Wow, this is like immediately after." The billionaire said, only slightly surprised at where the video was starting. Most everyone that had been against Tony from the start scoffed or huffed at his comment but, the genius was used to it by now.

His partners just smothered him from both sides until he accepted the comfort, the movie starting almost immediately after. 

**The view that appeared on the screen was not of that press conference, and instead showed a busy street somewhere in. . .Moscow?**

**" _. . .I know that it's confusing,"_ said Tony's voice as the view moved above several sets of train tracks. " _It is one thing to question the official story and another thing entirely to make wild accusations or to insinuate that I'm a superhero. . ."_**

**The scene changed to one of a side alley, and from there to a small television screen in a dingy little room where the press conference was playing with Russian subtitles a small white bird perched near the TV. An old man lay on a bed and watched the television.**

**On Anton Vanko's little television Tony was just uttering the final words:**

**"I am Iron Man."**

**The old man, Anton Vanko, looked away from the TV. "Ivan?" he called, so softly nobody was sure he was heard.**

**The side corridor came into view, they had another look at how run-down the place was. They appeared to be looking into the bathroom at the shower curtain, which was drawn.**

**"Ivan?" called Anton again. "Ivan?"**

**The old man gave a cough, and part of what had looked like the shower curtain suddenly moved and turned.**

"Man of the hour right there," Tony said snidely, still petty about the backlash that man caused the billionaire. 

Bruce just chuckled a little, having heard the rants while Thor just rubbed his back in agreement. They ignored the team's reaction to the video and their talking with practiced ease, only barely holding back a laugh at how amusing they were when they were ignored. 

**It was indeed a man, with a hard, weather-beaten, careworn face.**

Wanda picked up a memory of determination and flashing whips before Tony was able to get the witch out of his head, his practice paying off. He nudged Bruce as a heads up, both of them having already made signals for practically everything. 

**Ivan hurried into the sickroom and knelt by his father, who was now moaning softly.**

**"That should be you", said Anton softly in Russian.**

**Ivan caressed Anton's face. "Don't listen to that crap", he said.**

**Anton coughed again. "I'm sorry" _,_ his voice was nearly a whisper. "All I have to give you is my knowledge."**

**But after yet another cough, Anton's eyes closed and he went still.**

**Ivan's eyes filled with tears, and his hand went up to touch his father's face. The old man did not stir; he was dead.**

**Ivan raised a bottle to his lips even as the tears poured down his face. Then his features twisted, and he cried with grief and rage and bitterness.**

**The flash of blue that followed was a blueprint. Ivan was in his workshop. It was cramped and ill-lit and the walls were covered in old newspapers, but it was undoubtedly as much his workshop as the great ground-level garage in the Malibu mansion was Tony's. On the corner of the blueprint was the name Stark Industries. Next to it was a label - Arc Reactor TFTR-1. And next to that was two names - Howard Stark and Anton Vanko.**

"That man must have done something awful for Howard to react like that," Steve mentioned off handily, completely ignorant. 

"They were working on it together and something happened that made them have a falling out. Anton was deported back to Russia and Howard took all the credit, not that it was ever going to anything except bite him in the ass." Tony scoffed.

"He should have never done that," Pepper said snidely while looking at Stark like it was Tony's fault that his father was an asshole.

"I'm sorry, Pepper. Should I have been standing over his shoulder from the womb to help him make better choices?" The billionaire mocked, satisfied when she blushed a mortified red and averted her eyes.

Tony could practically feel Steve opening his mouth to give him a lecture on respecting women and was beyond glad when the video started back up right before he was about to start in. 

**Ivan was wearing a pair of dark goggles and cutting through something metal. Sparks flew as he worked, and the camera caught a glimpse of a gold tooth in his slightly open mouth.** **Ivan finished the cutting and removed his goggles; there was a brief shot of old magazines and newspaper clippings featuring Tony Stark, and then Ivan took a heated piece of iron to a table and began to hammer it. The hammering went on while the shot changed to one of the Arc Reactor blueprints.**

"That made him the second person in the world to successfully miniaturize the arc reactor," Tony said to Bruce, knowing that he loved the science facts while also making sure his boyfriend understood what was going on.

**Then Ivan was sitting with his back to the viewers, surrounded by half a dozen ancient computers all running line upon line of coding at once.**

**The bird walked past one of the computers and fluttered into Ivan's workspace.**

"The safety hazards.." Bruce muttered disparagingly under his breath, getting a laugh from Thor and Tony.

**Ivan took a bite of something the viewers couldn't quite see and went on working while he looked at a magazine cover that featured a large photo of "Stark's Arc" and another one that featured "Iron Man." Then fed the little white bird from a cup.**

"Wow, he is very obsessed with you, beloved," Thor said quietly, most everyone not hearing him as he never used an inside voice around them and they didn't think it was the God talking.

"Isn't he just?" Tony just said.

**Slowly it was taking shape, what was surely nothing other than a miniature Arc Reactor, while here and there came views of magazine covers and newspaper clippings - an "Iron Man" feature here, an article stating that Iron Man had stabilized East-West relations there. But the main thing was the Arc Reactor, which Ivan had been building piece by piece just as Tony had built his first miniature Arc Reactor in the cave in Afghanistan.**

**At last, Ivan flipped a switch, and all the lights in the room went out, startling the unfortunate little white bird.**

"Not the bird," Clint murmured, Natasha, laughing with him. 

**The Reactor lit up, and Ivan's smile of triumph gleamed in its light. He laughed in exultation as he lifted it before his eyes; the light engulfed the screen, and all else vanished.**

**Then the screen went black, and the words "Iron Man 2" appeared in gold lettering for a few seconds. Then the letters turned and vanished.**

"Here we go," Steve muttered to himself, not even bothering to pretend to be embarrassed when the team heard him. 

**While the screen was still dark, a voice had begun to speak (". . . two-seven-zero at thirty-nine, holding steady at fifteen thousand feet, you are cleared for ex-filtration over the drop zone . . .") while the words "6 months later" appeared on the screen.** **Then they saw the inside of a hangar, and Iron Man in his suit standing in front of the ramp as it opened onto the night sky.**

Tony tensed at the familiar scene, taking comfort from the pair cuddling him in between them and trying to forget the blurry memories and depression he associated with this time in his life.

**Tony went down the ramp and jumped out of the plane. He dived through the air above the city of Malibu while AC/DC's Shoot to Thrill screamed over the speakers.**

**"All you women who want a man of the street,**

**don't know which way you wanna turn,**

**Just keep coming, and put your hand out to me,**

**'cause I'm the one who's gonna make you burn. . ."**

**Fireworks lit up the sky as Tony descended. And then, with an impact that rang throughout the Stark Expo (for that was where it was), he landed on one knee on a great stage backed by a flashing screen with an image of a billowing American flag. Behind Tony and in front of the screen were about sixteen women in very scanty Iron Man inspired costumes. Down on the ground in front of the stage was a roaring crowd of some thousands of people.**

Most everyone in the room looked positively scandalized at the way the woman were dressed. Pepper opened her mouth to say something rude to Tony about it but one look at the glares she was getting from the trio made her quickly change her mind.

**Tony held up his arms as the audience cheered and the girls danced. Briefly, there was a shot of the event from far away, and the words "Stark Expo: Flushing, New York" appeared on the screen.**

**The circle on the stage where Tony was standing began to separate itself into sections and up came the big yellow arms of the familiar yellow robot to remove the Iron Man Suit piece by piece. And then there he was in a pristine business suit, smiling and waving down at the crowd. The billionaire took a grand bow while the women danced behind him, and winked.**

"If nothing else you can admit that Tony knows how to work a crowd," Rhodey said to Pepper, trying to stop the impending explosion at the lady being unable to express her emotions the way she wants when she wants. Pepper just scoffed, her manipulation not affecting Tony at all from where he was sitting surrounded by his partners.

**As Shoot To Thrill came to an end, the women all came forward and formed a half-circle around Tony, each striking a pose.**

**"Oh, it's good to be back!" said Tony cheerfully as the women made their way offstage. "You missed me, I missed you. Can you blow something up?" He held up his finger. "I already did that."**

**"I'm not saying," Tony went on. "that the world is enjoying its longest period of uninterrupted peace in years because of me," the audience cheered again, and the other Avengers rolled their eyes. "I'm not saying that from the ashes of captivity! -" he held out his arms. "Never has a greater phoenix metaphor been personified in human history."**

"Arrogant was right," Wanda said, trying to hurt Tony by mentioning the report Natasha made and scowling when the billionaire only winked at her. 

**Tony inclined his head to more cheers while the words Stark Expo glowed above his head on the screen that had previously shown the American Flag. "I'm not saying," he went on. "that Uncle Sam can kick back on a lawn chair, sipping on an iced tea, because I haven't come across anyone mad enough to go toe-to-toe with me on my best day!"**

"Except me," Steve said proudly before wincing at the grimaces on his side of the couches' faces and the glares coming from Thor and Bruce.

**"Tony! Tony! Tony!" chanted the crowd, and a female voice from somewhere managed to make itself heard above the rest - "I love you, Tony!"**

Clint visibly winced at the way that the fangirls were throwing themselves at the genius, sharing a commiserating grin with the man before remembering himself and looking away.

**"Please," Tony was saying magnanimously, holding up one hand. "It's not about me.**

Everyone on the other side of the room reacted in some way, Fury's eyebrow twitching and Pepper smiling like she'd won something. 

**It's not about you. It's not even about us - it's about legacy. It's about what we choose to leave behind for future generations. And that's why, for the next year, for the first time since 1974, the best and brightest women of nations and corporations the world over will pool their resources, share their collective vision, to leave behind a brighter future. It's not about us. Therefore what I am saying, if I'm saying anything, is - welcome back to the Stark Expo!" He paused and acknowledged the crowd again.**

**"And now," continued Tony. "Making a special guest appearance from the great beyond to tell you what it's all about, please welcome my father Howard." And he turned and walked offstage as the screen lit up behind him.**

Steve looked touched at the thought of his friend getting the recognition that he deserved. 

"I'm glad that you used that asshole's video as a distraction." Bruce shut him down, making it seem like he was whispering to Tony but purposefully pitching his voice so that everyone in the room heard. Tony nuzzled him in thanks and for something to do that wasn't laughing at the look on Captain Righteous's face. 

**The Stark Industries logo floated over several images, and then Howard Stark appeared in a business suit seated in what must be his study. "Everything is achievable through technology," he said. "Better living. Robust health. And for the first time, the possibility of world peace." He had by this time risen to his feet and walked around to stand in front of some sort of diagram.**

**The Expo audience watched as Howard went on. "So from all of us at Stark Industries, I'd like to personally introduce you to the city of the future." And the view shifted to a close-up of the Stark Expo model. "Technology holds infinite possibilities . . ."**

**Behind the stage, Tony held a small metal device with a button and a narrow strip of a screen. He stuck his thumb on a needle and wiped the drop of blood from the prick. The words BLOOD TOXICITY: 19% blinked their way onto the screen.**

Bruce literally winced, pulling Tony closer to himself like he couldn't bear to keep him out of his arms. 

"That's really bad." He reiterated. 

"Yeah, well SOMEONE WAS DYING AND DIDN'T SEE FIT TO TELL A DAMN PERSON ABOUT IT." Pepper started, voice steadily rising. 

"I tried to tell you three times that I can remember, maybe more. You shut me down every time and distanced yourself from me. Not to mention with the number of red flags I was sitting there waving you would think a real friend would have figured 'hmmm, there's something wrong there.' You don't get to jump on your high horse because it suits you." Tony viciously seethed, still not over the fact that nobody he thought had cared for him had realized that he was literally breaking apart.

Nobody spoke after that and the video continued uninterrupted. 

**Howard's voice was coming from onstage. ". . . soon technology will affect the way you live your life every day, no more tedious work. . ."**

**Tony raised his head and looked around at the back of the big screen.**

**". . . . the Stark Expo," said Howard Stark on the big screen with a smile. "Welcome." Then the screen went mostly dark and the word EXPO appeared in large blue letters outlined with brightly colored squares. The audience applauded once again.**

**"We are coming to you live from the kickoff of the Stark Expo," an attractive reporter shouted above all the noise around her, smiling into the camera. "where Tony Stark has just walked offstage, don't worry if you couldn't make it here tonight because this expo goes on all year long, and I'm going to be here checking out some of the attractions and the pavilions and some of the inventions from all around the world. . ."**

**Tony tossed his suit-jacket to Happy. Happy caught it. "It's a zoo out there, watch out," he said to Tony, and then to a tall gangly young attendant standing in front of the door out of the enclosure, "Open up, let's go!"**

**And Tony followed Happy outside into a waiting throng.**

**"Hey, I remember you,"**

**"Tony, Tony!" Another woman ducked right under his arm and pressed a card into his hand. "Call me," she said in his ear just before Happy managed to shoo her away.**

**Tony's voice and a pair of breasts barely covered in a black silk dress appeared right under Tony's eyes.**

"My God, they literally flock around you," Clint muttered, getting an obviously fake grin back from the genius to remind him that they aren't at all friends. 

**Tony was bent down to take an Iron Man picture from a small girl to sign it and patted the head of a slightly bigger boy wearing a toy Iron Man helmet.**

**"This is Larry," said Happy, and a man appeared in front of Tony and shook his hand. "Hey, the Oracle of Otho," he said.**

**"Pleasure, nice to see ya!" said Tony.**

**"Call me!" said Larry as Tony passed by him.**

**"Ah, yes, my people," said Tony as he passed what seemed to be another gaggle of girls; then he clapped Happy's shoulders and passed through a set of doors into another building.**

**"Wasn't so bad," said Happy, who seriously looked a bit stressed.**

**"No, it was perfect," said Tony.**

**Happy pointed ahead. "Look what we got here, the new model," he said, and there indeed stood both a sleek silver car and an attractive brunette in a purple blouse and a skirt that was actually down to her knees.**

**"Hey, does she come with the car?" asked Tony with interest.**

**"I certainly hope so," said Happy.**

**The woman stepped forward as Tony and Happy came up to the car.**

**"Hi!" said Tony, reaching for her hand.**

**"Hi," said the woman, shaking his hand.**

**"And you are?"**

**"Marshal,"**

**"Irish, I like it." Tony flirted.**

Wanda raised an eyebrow at the thought of Tony being cultured before dismissing it, never realizing that that was the exact reason the person who sent the first video felt they needed to send another.

**"Pleased to meet you, Tony," said the woman with a very pleasant smile as Tony went around the back of the car.**

**"I'm on the wheel," Tony quietly asked Happy. "Do you mind?" And then, to Marshal, "Where are you from?"**

**"Bedford," said Marshal.**

**"What are you doing here?" Tony questioned as he got into the driver's seat.**

**"Looking for you," said Marshal.**

**"Yeah? You found me," said Tony. "What are you up to later?'**

**"Servin' subpoenas," said Marshal, holding out a folded document.**

**"Yikes," said Tony as he looked at the paper.**

Fury winced halfheartedly, remembering the way the hearing went and deciding that it didn't really matter either way. Natasha and Clint took their cue from the Director and didn't make any snide comments. 

**Happy took it from her. "He doesn't like to be handed things," he said.**

**"Yeah, I have a peeve," said Tony, making a face.**

Clint kind of winced at that, seeing something traumatic in onscreen Tony's eyes and deciding that he was a dick to have mocked him for something like that. 

**"I got it," Happy assured Marshal.**

**Marshal continued to smile pleasantly at the men. "You are hereby ordered to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee tomorrow at 9:00 AM," she said.**

**"Can I see a badge?" asked Tony.**

**"Oh, you want to see the badge?" The woman questioned.**

**"He likes the badge," said Happy.**

**"Yep," Tony agreed as he started up the car. Marshall took a step back.**

**"How far are we from D.C.?" asked Tony of Happy.**

**"D.C.?" said Happy. "Two hundred fifty miles.**

**The tires screeched as Tony drove off.**

"This is just gonna keep getting better and better." The billionaire said annoyed, miming suffocating himself in the popcorn bowl in his lap.

Thor just sighed and hugged him to his larger body, Bruce holding him to the God from behind. 

The video just kept going.

* * *

_Any interactions are welcome and I accept prompts/pairings etc. Hope you enjoyed it! -Rose_


	2. Senator Asshole

**A full shot of the US Capitol building, its dome rising proudly above the rest of the city with the words "Washington D.C." underneath it.**

**Someone rapped on a podium with a gavel. "Mr. Stark," said a rather aggravating, oiled sort of voice - the voice of a rich American who has probably never done a day's work in his life. "Could we pick up now where we left off?"**

Pepper sighed like she was seriously annoyed and huffed when Tony tactfully ignored her.

"Seriously, what you did was ridiculous." The redhead said exasperated, her full attention on Tony meaning that she missed Natasha's grimace. 

"I'm sorry that the government was trying to steal from me and I fought back, next time I'll just let them have my suit. Did you know that Senator Stern, the one at the hearing that was riding my ass also happened to be Hydra?" The billionaire said the first part to Pepper than the second like something he was idly mentioning to Bruce, struggling not to laugh at the look on Pepper's face. 

**Tony was seated in a leather-backed chair in front of a long table. He was turned around in the chair communicating with Pepper, who was a few rows back in the audience behind the table looking distinctly unamused.**

**"Mr. Stark, please," said the oily voice.**

"You gotta love that guy," Tony said in vicious satisfaction, remembering the aftermath of him being outed by Hydra. 

Bruce just laughed at the pleasure in his partner's voice, sharing a fond look with Thor over the billionaire's head.

**"Yes, dear," said Tony, turning to the microphone with a smirk that indicated he'd said it entirely on purpose. The audience tittered.**

Clint lost it laughing as Natasha looked at him like he was crazy.

"He's- Hydra!" The archer choked out, getting a visceral reaction from everyone in the room before the entire team was laughing. Even Fury's lips twitched up a little. 

**"Could I have your attention?" asked the voice of the Senator, who had yet to appear.**

**"Absolutely," said Tony, still smirking.**

**"Do you or do you not possess a specialized weapon?" asked Senator Stern, who looked every bit as indulged and oily as his voice sounded.**

**"I do not," Tony purred into the microphone, his eyes showing he was ready for a fight and he was going to love every minute of it.**

**"You do not?" Stern pressed.**

**"I do not," repeated Tony. "Well," he amended. "it depends on how you define the word 'weapon'."**

**"The Iron Man weapon," Stern leveled, already annoyed. He was surrounded by the rest of the Committee, all in suits with either a blue or a red tie.**

"You are going to eat him and spit him out by the time you're done with him, aren't you?" Bruce said teasingly, reveling in the proud smirk Tony gained at the words.

Thor just laughed and ran a large hand through the smaller man's hair.

The rest of the room ignored what was going on.

**"My device does not fit that description," Tony deadpanned, getting his game face on.**

**"Oh, well, how would you describe the device?" asked Stern, leaning forward and raising his eyebrows.**

**"I would describe it by defining it as what it is, Senator," Tony's smirk had vanished entirely and his voice had hardened.**

**"As?" prompted the Senator.**

**"Ah, it's a, um, it's a high-tech prosthesis," said Tony. "That is - that's -" He paused as the audience laughed (except for Pepper).**

Fury gave a small chuckle at that, shocking almost everyone in the room and making Pepper glare at the director. Fury just raised a condescending eyebrow at the woman and watched her blush and look away with vindictive pleasure. Tony was having a nostalgic moment in his childhood with his Uncle Nick when Thor tapped him as the movie started again. 

**"That's actually the most apt description I could make of it," said Tony.**

**"It's a weapon," said Stern. "It's a weapon, Mr. Stark, I have to say it - it's a weapon."**

**"Please," Tony scoffed scornfully. "if your priority was actually the wellbeing of the American citizenry -"**

**"My priority," said the Senator. "is to get the Iron Man weapon turned over to the people of the United States of America."**

**"Well, you can forget it," said Tony as the cameras flashed in his face. "I am Iron Man. The Suit and I are one. To turn over the Iron Man suit would be to turn over myself, which is tantamount to indentured servitude or prostitution, depending on which state you're in." He didn't skip a beat when the others behind him (and around him in the lounge) chuckled. "You can't have it."**

**Senator Stern apparently had other ideas for this meeting. "Look, I'm no, ah, expert -"**

**"In prostitution?" said Tony. "Of course not, you're a senator! Come on!" He flung out his arm and raised two fingers to more laughter from the audience.**

That got a surprised laugh out of everyone in the room besides Pepper, her embarrassment not gone enough to enjoy a joke that she would never normally approve of.

"He's like 65!" Wanda muttered disgusted between her laughter. 

"What's the backstory with that comment?" Fury asked, understanding Tony better than anyone in the room but still managing to only get what hadn't changed since he was five. 

"When he was in his thirties he was caught with a prostitute by the press and it was the final nail in the coffin that ended his marriage." 

The laughter was back louder than before, taking a while before it was quiet enough to start the movie again.

**Tony had made eye contact with Pepper, who shook her head at him. He settled back down at once.**

**"I'm no expert in weapons," continued Stern as if nothing had happened. "But we have somebody here who is an expert on weapons. I would now like to call Justin Hammer,**

Rhodey, Natasha, Pepper, and Tony all burst out laughing again, effectively confusing everyone else in the room. 

**our primary weapons contractor -"** **Tony looked up and around. A businessman in an overpriced suit walking up to a podium like he owned the place.**

"What are y'all laughin' about?" Steve asked, his Brooklyn drawl coming out a bit in his hatred for not understanding things. 

"That's Justin Hammer, the biggest joke in the entire industry. I made a couple of designs when I was eight that are better than some of the things he's ever done." Tony choked out between his laughter, getting the rest of the room to join him. 

**"Let the record reflect that I observe Mr. Hammer entering the chamber," Mocked Tony. "And I am wondering if and when any actual expert will also be in attendance."**

That just got everyone cracking up again, even the spies couldn't stop laughing.

**Senator Stern rapped with the gavel again, and Justin Hammer laughed. He had a rather slouching, careless manner that attempted to exude Competence and Confidence but in reality, did neither. "Absolutely," he said. "I'm no expert. I defer to you, Anthony." He smirked at the man in question. "You're the Wonderboy."**

**"Senator, if I may," continued Justin Hammer, rising to his feet and taking the microphone with him. "I may well not be an expert, but you know who was the expert - your dad!" He pointed at Tony. "Howard Stark. Really a father to us all, and the military-industrial age... Let's just be clear, he was no flower child," Hammer went on, leaning against something which was sitting on the table and looking the opposite of professional. "He was a lion."**

Steve, Fury, and Natasha all looked very guilty at that, their masks not hiding anything. Bruce picked up on it and nudged him in a way that meant he was going to ask about it later. 

**The Senator and Tony made brief eye contact before Tony looked back at Hammer.**

**"We all know why we're here," continued Hammer. "In the last six months, Anthony Stark has created a sword with untold possibilities. And yet he insists it's a shield. He asks us to trust him -" he gave a deprecating shake of his head. "- as we cower behind it. I wish I were comforted, Anthony, I really do. I'd love to leave my door unlocked when I leave the house. But this ain't Canada. You know, we live in a world of grave threats - threats that Mr. Stark will not always be able to foresee."**

**Tony did not speak.**

**"Thank you," said Hammer as he went back to his chair. "God bless Iron Man, and God bless America."**

"Translation, for those of you that didn't grow up swimming in the political waters: Fuck you, Wonderboy. Beat that asshat." Tony muttered to Thor and consequently pitched his voice so that the rest of the room would hear. 

**This time only the Committee applauded; nobody in the audience seemed inclined to.**

**"That is well said, Mr. Hammer," said Stern. "The Committee would now like to invite Lieutenant-Colonel James Rhodes to the Chamber -"**

**"Rhodey? What?" asked Tony, obviously blindsided. He looked back, as did everybody else, to the Chamber entrance.**

Several people in the room winced, those who knew how Tony reacted to betrayal specifically.

**Lieutenant-Colonel James Rhodes came into the room and approached the table, his uniform pristine. Tony got up and walked back toward him. "Hey, buddy," he said as he grasped his old friend's hand. "Didn't expect to see you here."**

**"Look," said Rhodey, pausing briefly to look at Tony. "It's me, I'm here, deal with it, let's move on."**

**"I just -" began Tony.**

**"Drop it," said Rhodey in a tone that brooked no argument.**

**"All right," said Tony as they moved toward their seats behind the table. "I'll drop it."**

**"I have before me a complete report on the Iron Man weapon compiled by Colonel Rhodes," said Senator Stern. "and, Colonel, for the record, can you please read page fifty-seven, paragraph four?"**

**"You're requesting that I read specific selections from my report, Senator?" asked Rhodes.**

**"Yes, sir," said the Senator.**

**"It was my understanding," said Rhodey. "that I was going to be testifying in a much more comprehensive and detailed manner -"**

"And you believed them?" Tony muttered incredulously, his friend's naivety actually giving him pause. 

**"I understand," said Stern. "A lot of things have changed today, so would you just read -"**

**"You understand that reading a single paragraph out of context does not reflect the summary of my findings -"**

**"Just read it, Colonel, I do," said Stern.**

**Rhodey gave the Senator a measured look. Then his eyes dropped to his report. "Very well," he said and turned to the requested page. "As he does not operate within any definable branch of government," he read aloud, pausing and seeming to fume for a moment. "Iron Man presents a potential threat to both the security of the nation and to her interests."**

**The Colonel looked back up, clearly unhappy. "I did, however, go on to summarize that the benefits if Iron Man far outweigh the liabilities, and that it would be in our interests -"**

**"Ah, ah, ah," said Stern hastily. "That's enough - that's enough, Colonel! That's enough!"**

"Fuck context, am I right?" Rhodey muttered, still bitter that he had been so stupid.

That got several off humor chuckles from around the room.

Rhodes **was still speaking. "- to fold Mr. Stark into the existing chain of command, Senator."**

**Tony leaned forward to speak into his own microphone. "I'm not a joiner, but I'll consider Secretary of Defense if you ask nicely," he said, and the audience chuckled again. "We can amend the hours a little bit."**

**The Colonel next to him had to take a sip of water to hide his smile.**

**Stern cleared his throat. "I'd like to go on," he said. "and show, if I may, the imagery that's connected to your report."**

**"I believe it is somewhat premature to reveal these images to the general public," said Rhodey with a smile that did not touch his eyes.**

**"With all due respect, Colonel, I understand," said Stern. "and if you could just narrate those for us, we'd be very grateful."**

"Wow, he's getting desperate," Natasha said absentmindedly. 

**Rhodey gestured, and off to the side, someone turned on a large flatscreen television, which began to show pictures of different landscapes with close-up aerial shots of blurry buildings.**

**"Intelligence suggests," said Rhodey. "that the devices seen in these photos are in fact attempts at making manned copies of Mr. Stark's Suit."**

**Tony frowned at this, and he pulled a small device out of his pocket and turned it on. His thumbs flew over the icons.**

"What's that?" Steve asked.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Tony responded childishly. 

**"This has been corroborated," Rhodes went on. "by our allies and local intelligence on the ground indicating that these Suits are quite possibly at this moment, ah, operational."**

**"Hold on one second, buddy," said Tony, leaning forward with the small device in hand. "Let me see. . ." He held up the little device in front of the flatscreen and pushed an icon on the device. "Boy, I'm good," he congratulated himself as a black box with lines of code and the words WELCOME, MR. STARK appeared over the pictures that had been shown earlier.**

"Were you a bad boy again? Hacking into the US Government?" Bruce asked condescending, choking on a laugh all the while. 

"Sorry, Daddy." Tony instantly replied without even thinking about it, the reaction popping the tension in the room and getting everyone to laugh. 

**"I commandeered your screens," said onscreen Tony. "I need 'em." And he pressed another icon on the device. "Time for a little transparency. Now let's see what's really going on."**

**Stern seemed uneasy. "What is he doing?" he asked.**

**"If you'll direct your attention to said screens," said onscreen Tony, putting the device back down on the table and moving his fingertips across it. "I believe that's North Korea." He punched an icon.**

**The flatscreen now showed an image of something that looked more like a top-heavy giant beetle than a Suit. There were Korean subtitles all over the picture, but everyone could clearly see the thing stagger forward a couple of steps and then tumble to the ground, where it lay kicking its 'legs' feebly before something exploded and the camera lost focus.**

The entire team giggled and scoffed at the 'recreations'.

**Two of the media reporters in the audience sprang to their feet, and the Congresspeople groaned and looked awkward.**

**"Can you -" Senator Stern was leaning forward and pointing. "Can you turn that off - take it off?"**

The laughter just got more intense as the Senator scrambled. 

**Justin Hammer sprang to his feet and scrambled in the direction of the television.**

**"Iran," said Tony, punching the screen of his little device again. Hammer was in front of the television by this time, fumbling with it, but it was plain to see that in Iran there was little besides explosions, shouting, and a lot of smoke.**

**"No grave immediate threat here," said Tony, and then he perked up in sudden interest and added, "Is that Justin Hammer? How did Hammer get in the game?"**

Nobody could control themselves, even Fury doubled over in amusement. 

**The next image that appeared did indeed display the Hammer logo in the bottom left corner. The man himself was standing cautiously next to another attempt at the Suit, which was obviously being tested.**

**"Justin, you're on TV," snarked Tony. "Focus up." He shared a look with a smirking Rhodey.**

**"Okay, give me a left twist," said Justin on the screen. The Suit's upper half twisted jerkily.**

**"Left's good," said Justin. "Turn to the right." The Suit twisted again, and its knees wobbled as the audience heard the pilot's back break.**

Pepper, Rhodey, and Wanda winced, the rest of the room not as delicate to injuries and murder. 

**"Oh, shit - oh, shit!" cried Justin on the screen, skipping backward as the Suit began to collapse.**

**At that moment Justin managed to unplug the television, after which he turned at once and began scrambling back to his seat. The room was rustling with whispers and some laughter, and everyone was pointing. Senator Stern rubbed the bridge of his nose in consternation.**

**"Yeah, I'd say, uh, most countries, five to ten years away," said Tony, and he gestured toward Justin who was just getting back into his chair. "Hammer Industries, at least twenty."**

That was what finally got Tony to have to stop, the ache in his side from laughing clenching every time he moved. 

**"I'd like to point out that that test pilot survived," said Justin, obviously humiliated.**

"Well thank God for that," Natasha muttered snidely. 

**Senator Stern stood up. "I think we're done, is the point that he's making," he said hurriedly. "I don't think there's any reason -"**

**"The point is," said Tony. "You're welcome, I guess."**

**"For what?" asked the Senator.**

**"Because I'm your nuclear deterrent," Tony spread his hands. "It's working. We're safe. America is secure."**

Steve looked like he was about to throw a fit at Tony's arrogance before his remaining two brain cells rubbed together and he shut the hell up without being told.

**Tony's voice was rising. "You want my property. You can't have it!" He brought his hands down on the table with a thud. "But I did you a big favor!" He rose to his feet and turned to look around. "I have successfully privatized world peace."**

**The billionaire held up his hands and the audience applauded and even rose to their feet.**

**"What more do you want?" cried Tony above the applause. "For now! I tried to play ball with these ass-clowns!" He pointed back to the Congress table.**

**And Senator Stern smiled at Tony and said, "Fuck you, Mr. Stark. Fuck you, buddy."**

"Naughty boy, on national television too?" Bruce smirked, blanking his face when he remembered that there were more people than just his partners in the room. 

**"We're adjourned - we're adjourned for today," said Stern.**

**"Okay!" said Tony with a smirk. He bent down to the table where he'd been sitting, picked up his sunglasses, and put them on.**

**"You've been a delight," said the Senator in a voice that indicated that Tony had been just the opposite.**

**Tony gave him a thumbs-up and blew him kisses.**

Clint chuckled, a slightly wistful look on his face like he wished he had been there. 

**Rhodey shook his head, chuckling, and Justin gazed up at Tony with obvious dislike.**

**Then the image became slightly grainy and off-color as the Vanko television played the broadcast with Russian subtitles. Tony was now walking down the center aisle toward the camera. "Cause my bond is with the people," he was saying. "And I will serve this great country at the pleasure of - myself!"**

Pepper and Steve looked like they were about to reprimand Tony but the team was already laughing before they got the chance, the noise-making them pause.

**Ivan was indeed watching from what seemed to be his work station.**

**"If there's one thing I've proven," said Tony. "it's that you can count on me -" He took off his sunglasses to look straight into the camera. "- to pleasure myself!"**

**For Ivan Vanko was at work once again, this time obviously constructing some part of the Suit that had nothing to do with the Arc Reactor. Ivan turned a switch, and thick white streams of pure electricity began to flash.**

**The dangling "streams" came to life with a whine, and Ivan raised both his arms. Then, with a twirl of one arm, he brought one of the flashing whips down on the little ancient television and sliced it right in half.**

"Well shit," Rhodey said idly, remembering the damage those things could do. 

Natasha and Fury just nodded in agreement.

* * *

_Comments and kudos are always welcome. If you have prompts/pairings that you'd like me to try you can message me or email me at Roseriley0612@gmail.com. -Rose_


	3. Change Of Leadership

**There was a view of Tony's beautiful Malibu mansion by the sea, and the words "Malibu, California" appeared on the screen once more.**

"Whoa! Why don't we live there?" Clint asked, missing Natasha's grimace and Pepper's heated look to Tony.

"Because I gave that address to the press and a terrorist blew it up," Tony said in a monotone, viciously satisfied by the look of shock on most everyone's faces. 

**And then, inside his workshop, Tony stood at his desk and clapped his hands. The Clash's Should I Stay or Should I Go began to play, and blue holograms lit up the air over the desk.**

**"Wake up, Daddy's home," said Tony, snapping his fingers in front of what turned out to be about four holographic "desktops." The Avengers watched in fascination as the images lit up the room far above the desk - some of them seemed to hover above the desk.**

"This was only, what? 2010? When did you make that?" Nick asked from his armchair with not a little bit of envy.

"I made the prototype for the holograms when I was 20 after watching Star Wars drunk so that would have been..." Tony trailed off.

"1990, Sir." Jarvis finished for the mechanic, getting pleasure from watching everyone in the room but Tony, Bruce, and Thor jump. 

"1990, that was the year." Tony got a nostalgic look on his face, never allowing the memories of that time to make him unaware and reveling in Fury's look of disbelief and awe. 

Everyone in the room was looking at Tony like he had grown a second head.

**"Welcome home, sir," said the voice of JARVIS. "Congratulations on the opening ceremonies. They were such a success, as was your Senate hearing. And may I say," he added as Tony's screens woke up and a YouTube video of the hearing came up on one of them at once. "how refreshing it is to finally see you in a video with your clothing on, sir."**

Pepper winced at the flashbacks that brought while Tony just started laughing. Most everyone in the room looked curious, disgusted, or a mixture of the two. 

**Tony just chuckled as his fingers flew over the surface of his desk.**

**Over at the counter, there was a splash as one of Tony's bots seemed to attempt to mix something in a blender.**

"U," Bruce said idly, nobody in the room was expecting it from him but that just made it better.

**"U?" called Tony, and the bot turned its claw hastily in Tony's direction.**

**In turning around, U had knocked the blender over, and the green drink inside it spilled all over the counter and the floor.**

**"I swear to God I'll dismantle you," grumbled Tony. 'I'll soak your motherboard, I'll turn you into a wine rack."**

Tony could practically see Steve swelling up for a lecture before Thor just glared until he fell silent with a mulish glare. 

**U lowered its claw with a mournful little squeak.**

**"How many ounces a day of this gobbledegook am I supposed to drink?" Tony asked Jarvis as he went to work at one of his screens.**

**"We are up to eighty ounces a day to counteract the symptoms, Sir," said JARVIS as Tony picked up a glass of some green drink and drained it.**

"What's that?" Natasha asked, Bruce and Tony able to see how much not knowing hurt her fragile pride. 

"Chlorophyll," Bruce said, willing to put her out of her misery.

Tony pouted up at the man, his pupils instantly dilating when the scientist just put a thumb over his lips. The genius's automatic reaction was to suck on the tip of it, getting the trio all a little hot and bothered, memories of how Tony had gotten that instinct distracting them all.

A throat cleared and the movie started again, nobody embarrassed except for the people who had been watching. Tony also didn't mention the way he saw Clint readjusting himself. 

**"Check palladium levels," demanded Tony, picking up the little device he'd used earlier at the Stark Expo while his father had talked of technology enabling robust health. He stuck his thumb on the needle again, and this time the words BLOOD TOXICITY: 24% appeared on the screen of the device.**

"Jesus Christ, sweetheart," Bruce whispered in his shock, both him and Thor pulling the smaller man harder in between them. 

**"Blood toxicity, twenty-four percent," said JARVIS. "It appears that the continued use of the Iron Man Suit is accelerating your condition." As the AI spoke, the desktop on the far right of Tony's desk displayed a diagram of the Arc Reactor sitting between his lungs, surrounded by an inch of rather ominous-looking red.**

**"Another core has been depleted," said JARVIS, and Tony pulled up his shirt and unscrewed the Arc Reactor. He turned it over in his hand and pulled a large chip out of the back, a nasty little thing that looked half charred and half-melted.**

"That looks like an exploded battery. It was inside you." Clint said distantly.

Steve's look of morbid fascination would be Tony's new lock screen for the next year to replace the one of Clint's noise of disgust after the goo monsters. 

**"God, they're running out quick," Tony commented idly, throwing away the depleted core and reaching into a smallish wooden case for a fresh one.**

**"I have run simulations on every known element," said JARVIS. "and none can serve as a viable replacement for the palladium core."**

Bruce and Thor, already having heard the story from Tony just held him tighter.

**Tony slid the new core into the Arc Reactor and clicked it back into its socket.**

**"You are running out of both time and options," said JARVIS. "Unfortunately, the device that is keeping you alive is also killing you."**

**Tony examined the skin around the Arc Reactor's socket in the screen of another of his desktops. The veins stood out almost black against the pale, almost translucent flesh.**

Rhodey grimaced, remembering how he had noticed and how easily Tony had distracted him.

**"Miss Potts is approaching," said JARVIS, and Tony hastily lowered his shirt. "I suggest that you inform her -"**

**"Mute," said Tony as Pepper keyed herself into the workshop.**

"Well, maybe if you had- I don't know- TOLD ME BEFORE YOU-" Pepper started up again, Steve looking three seconds away from joining her.

"You would have what? I was waving so many red flags I could have worn them to Coachella if you couldn't see that something was obviously wrong then you never really knew me at all. Remember that conversation about my eidetic memory? I literally couldn't have forgotten that you were allergic to strawberries unless the memory was completely gone." 

Pepper had gotten paler as Tony verbally tore her apart, eventually just sitting back in her seat with a blush of shame. The room just watched in slight awe at how easily Tony was able to cut her off at the knees. 

**Tony put all his desktops on the screensaver that they'd seen on his office computer the night before when Obadiah Stane had nearly caught Pepper in the act.**

**"Uh-uh!" protested Tony, gulping another glass of chlorophyll.**

**"Is this a joke?" demanded Pepper, marching straight up to him and obviously furious. "What are you thinking? What are you thinking?!"**

**"Hey!" Tony surrendered, holding up his hands. "I'm thinking I'm busy, and you're angry. About something." He got up and began walking around his desk to join Pepper. "Do you have the sniffles? I don't want to get sick."**

Steve looked like he was about to go for it but one look at Pepper dissuaded him of the notion. 

**"Did you just -" began Pepper as Tony weaved his way through a maze of glowing holograms that made most of the team blink - there seemed to be no screens to project them anywhere nearby.**

**"Keep your business," said Tony.**

**"- donate our entire modern art collection," Pepper went on. "to the -"**

"Our collection?" Clint asked in confusion, realizing from Tony's smirk that he had just helped the billionaire. 

**"Boy Scouts of America," said Tony, shrinking a largely expanded hologram of a human heart into a ball that fit neatly into one hand**

**"Boy Scouts of America?" Pepper was nearly shouting.**

**"This is a worthwhile organization," defended Tony, throwing the hologram he'd just shrunk toward the back of the room where it sailed straight into what seemed to be the digital "goal post" which gave a cheerful "ding!" and flashed the word "SCORE" in bright green letters. "I didn't physically check the crates, but basically, yes." He swiped images out of his way as he walked through his workshop, Pepper stalking after him. "And it's not technically our collection, it's my collection - no offense," he added, turning briefly to her before going back to moving the holograms**

"The holograms are so pretty," Wanda said, her accent thick with an unmentioned emotion.

**"No - you know what -" It was becoming obvious that Pepper was rather congested. "- I think I'm entitled to say our collection, ("ding!" said the scorekeeper again) considering the time that I put in over ten years curating that -"**

"Why did you think that it was anything other than his collection?" Clint asked, still more than confused.

"Because I was the one that tracked down most of those pieces!" Pepper said, finally gathering enough of her fire to fight back.

"As much as I hate the guy it's really never been yours. It's his money and they're kept on his property in his name," 

Nobody had a response, Tony hiding a smile on Thor's shoulder. 

**"It's a tax write-off," said Tony, actually coming to a standstill for a few moments to look at Pepper. "I needed that."**

Nick just scoffed, not knowing that he didn't need it but remembering a conversation from decades ago. 

**"You know," Pepper went on, ignoring any of Tony's attempts to defend himself and following Tony as he started again. "there's only about eight thousand and eleven things that I really need to talk to you about -"**

**"Dum-E!" said Tony sharply, snapping his fingers at the aforementioned bot, which appeared to be working at some part of one of the machines. "Stop spacing out, the Bridgeport's already machining that part."**

**"The Expo is a gigantic waste of time," Pepper had once more caught up to him.**

**Tony briefly put his hands on Pepper's shoulders as he passed her by. "I need you to wear a surgical mask until you're feeling better," he said just as she let out a slight cough. "Is that okay?"**

It was Bruce's turn to hide a smile, seeing the gleam in Tony's eyes and intimately familiar with what the look meant. 

**"That's rude," snapped Pepper.**

**"There's nothing more important to me than the Expo," Tony was saying, gesticulating as he went. "It's my primary point of concern, I don't know why you're -"**

**"The Expo is your ego going crazy!" fumed Pepper.**

Rhodey winced at that, seeing how Tony's eyes instantly darkened in anger even if nothing on his face changed. 

**"Wow, look at that!" said Tony, pausing to pick up a framed picture of the helmet and shoulders of the Iron Man Suit in simple red and blue lineart with the words IRON MAN painted on a black stripe across the bottom. "That's modern art," he said to Pepper. "That's going up."**

**"Oh, you've got to be kidding," groaned Pepper as Tony strode past her with the thing.**

"You treat him like a toddler that you're being paid to babysit, not like he's your boss," Natasha commented, taking a pot shot of her own after seeing how much more engaged Clint was after he did.

**"I'm going to put this up right now," said Tony. "This is vital."**

**Pepper had apparently decided to leave the art question alone. "Stark is in complete disarray," she said. "Can you understand that?"**

**Tony made a face. "Why's it so - no, our stocks have never been higher, you are -"**

**"Yes, from a managerial standpoint, but -"**

**" - well, if it's messy, then let's double back -"**

**"Let me give you an example -"**

**"Let's move on to another subject -"**

"Jesus, when do you breathe?" Steve asked himself under his breath only to scowl when Tony outright laughed at that.

**Tony had taken the Iron Man picture over to the general area where U had made a mess of the life-sustaining drink earlier. It happened that there was a framed painting of some sort hanging on the wall above the counter, and Tony eyed it for a moment before raising the picture he was carrying.**

**"Oh, no, no, no, no!" shouted Pepper, almost running after him (and by this time decidedly hoarse). "You are not taking down the Barnett Newman and hanging that up -"**

"My God, seriously. It's like he's not allowed to touch anything unless you tell him to." Thor commented, pitching his voice to sound like it was meant for Tony and laughing with the rest of the room.

**It was too late. Tony had climbed up onto the counter carrying the Iron Man picture with him. "I'm not taking it down," he said to Pepper. "I'm replacing it with this." He took the painting that must have been the Barnett Newman off its hooks and put it down next to him. "Let's see what I can get going here!" he added cheerfully as he began hanging up the Iron Man picture.**

**"Okay, fine," huffed Pepper. "My point is, we have already awarded contracts to the wind farm people -"**

**"Don't say wind farm, I'm already feeling gassy," said Tony.**

Clint chuckled at the joke, getting a smack from Natasha for his juvenile humor. 

**"- and to the plastic plantation tree, which was your idea, by the way -"**

**"- everything was my idea -"**

**"- and you won't make a decision!"**

"You were already that far into clean energy?" Bruce asked, more for the benefit of everyone else. He knew how efficient Tony could be if he put his mind to it. 

**"I don't care about the liberal agenda anymore!" Tony turned and spread his hands.**

**"I can't -" began Pepper.**

**"It's boring -" Tony hopped down off the counter. "boring, I'm giving you a boring alert, you do it."**

Steve scoffed in derision at the childish answer, only feeling the glare he got from Bruce for a couple of seconds before disregarding it. 

**"I do what?!" cried Pepper.**

**"Excellent idea," Tony's face had cleared in an instant. "I just figured this out - you run the company." He pointed at Pepper.**

**"Yeah, I'm trying to run the company -" Pepper was fuming.**

**"Pepper, I need you to run the company," Tony was adamant. "- well, stop trying to do it and do it -"**

**"You won't give me the information I need -"**

**"I'm not asking you to try to do it -"**

**"- in order to -"**

**"- I'm asking you to physically do it. I need you to do it."**

"Damn, why do you never let him talk?" Clint threw in, having made a game of it with Natasha. 

Pepper just colored, remembering the conversation and how much more difficult she had made it for literally no reason. 

**Pepper's shoulders went up. "I am trying to do it -"**

**"Pepper, you're not listening to me!" shouted Tony.**

**"No, you're not listening to me -"**

**"I'm trying to make you CEO! Why won't you let me?"**

**Pepper had pulled up short. She looked at Tony as if he'd grown a second head. She leaned in slightly, trying to smell his breath. "Have you been drinking?" she asked.**

Most of the room had a visceral reaction to that, disbelief that she had actually asked that clear on their faces. Rhodey looked at her like he was trying to understand a complicated puzzle and Tony's partner's glares were about ready to melt her. 

**"Ah, chlorophyll," Tony disregarded, obviously relieved at having gotten her attention but his eyes beyond angry.**

**Pepper continued to stare at him as if not fully trusting her mind at the moment.**

**But Tony was obviously quite serious. He put his hands on Pepper's shoulders. "I hereby, irrevocably, appoint you chairman and CEO of Stark Industries, effective immediately," he said.**

**There was a short pause, as Pepper was obviously still in disbelief.**

**"Yeah, done deal, okay?" said Tony, turning and walking off toward U. "I've actually given this a fair amount of thought - doing a bit of headhunting, so to speak, trying to figure out who a worthy successor would be."**

Pepper winced at the choice of words, seeing just how many hints Tony had left now that she was seeing it from a different point of view. 

**Tony was now pouring two glasses of what was probably vodka. "And then I realized - it's you. It's always been you."**

Bruce squeezed Tony around the waist, a throwback to their game from the last movie. 

**Pepper took a few steps forward and sank into a chair.**

**"I thought there'd be a legal issue," Tony went on. "but actually I'm capable of appointing my successor. My successor being you." He walked up to her and held out one of the glasses.**

**Pepper was shaking her head and seemed to be in tears, but she was smiling for the first time since they'd seen her.**

**"Congratulations?" Tony pressed the glass into her limp hand.**

**"I -" Pepper squeaked. "I don't know what -"**

**"Take it," said Tony. "Just take it."**

**"- what to think -"**

**"Don't think," said Tony, sitting down next to her. "Just drink."**

"Isn't that your life motto?" Clint asked, mocking Tony now.

"No, it's live fast die young." The billionaire instantly threw back, having plenty of experience from persistent reporters. 

Most of the team laughed and Fury's lips twitched in amusement. 

**They toasted each other and drank, and Pepper's smile was brighter than the crystal wineglass she was holding.**

**In the snowy dark alley in Moscow, Ivan Vanko stood in the shadows of the apartment building where he lived.**

"Not this guy," Steve started, just stopping himself in time to watch the movie. 

**A man in a black coat approached him, spoke to him in Russian, and handed him a packet. Ivan took the packet and stuffed it inside his own coat. Then he smiled the tone of his voice seemed to suggest that he had said something in the air of "thank you", who turned and walked away.**

**Then, after a moment's staring after the other man, Ivan slipped deeper into the shadows and opened the packet to look inside it. There was a passport, with his picture, and a pass to the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique.**

"Oh shit," Tony said, more amused than anything but having to put words to the expression on the team's faces. 

**And then The Clash's The Magnificent Seven began to play as Pepper walked into an indulgent fitness room complete with a boxing ring. "The notary's here!" she called. "Can you please come to sign the transfer paperwork?"**

**"I'm on Happy time," called Tony from the boxing ring. He was sparring with Happy, who was all got up in protective gear and seemed to be coaching him.**

Rhodey smiled at the line, remembering Happy's reaction to hearing it the first time. 

**Tony delivered a strike that made Happy's head fly backward with a grunt. "Sorry," he said hastily.**

**"What the hell was that?!" demanded Happy angrily.**

**"It's called mixed martial arts," said Tony, hopping back and forth. "It's been around for three weeks now -"**

Most of the spies started laughing, the team following after they had a moment to think it through. 

**"It's called dirty boxing," snapped Happy. "There's nothing new about it. All right, lift 'em up, c'mon."**

**Just then, a woman with a very familiar face came into the room holding a folder. She was dressed in a white blouse and black pants, and her long hair, which was a much darker red than Pepper's, fell in waves around her shoulders.**

"Meet Natalie Rushman!" Tony announced with a mocking bow, still bitter about her spying and stabbing him. 

* * *

_Hope you enjoyed it! Comments or emails (Roseriley0612@gmail.com) of prompts or pairings you'd like to see from me are always welcome. -Rose_


	4. Natalie Rushman, Everyone

**Happy and Tony paused their sparring bout to gape at Natasha.**

Tony's partners could see the calculating gleam in the billionaire's eyes, silently laughing at the arrogant look on both of Natasha's faces. Most of the team was just getting over the shock of seeing the Black Widow there, Clint winced slightly at the implications and lack of trust that were painfully obvious with that last piece of information. 

Fury just looked impassive as always.

**Natasha looked Tony over critically before going to join Pepper.**

**"I promise you this is the only time I will ask you to sign over your company," called Pepper as she smiled politely at Natasha.**

Rhodey winced at the line, seeing the way Tony subtly tensed at it. Bruce just silently laughed at the way that Natasha on the screen ate up Tony's acting and pulled Tony in tighter to himself. 

**Natasha opened her folder for Pepper to look at. "I need you to initial each box," she said in her pleasantly husky voice.**

**Tony was still watching Natasha from the boxing ring. Happy gave him a thump in the back of the head to make him turn around. "Lesson one," he said. "Never take your eye off your -"**

**Tony's foot slammed into the mat protecting Happy's stomach, sending him reeling against the other side of the boxing ring.**

Everyone was glaring at Tony like he'd killed their puppy, the indignation not letting them see that the move was martial arts and completely instinctual rather than him being an asshole. 

**Pepper and Natasha both looked up at the sound of a heavy thud and the gong dinging followed by Happy's voice - "That's it, I'm done" - as he began removing his gear.**

**"What's your name, lady?" called Tony, pointing at the newcomer, seeing that she was completely acting.**

**"Rushman, Natalie Rushman," said the woman with the dark red hair.**

"Isn't that a little close to your real name?" Steve asked, curious.

"It's good to have the same initials so that you have that to come back to," Natasha said emotionlessly after getting a nod from Fury.

Tony just silently shook his head at the half-truth. 

**"Front and center, come into the church," said Tony, taking a swallow of what was probably more chlorophyll.**

**"No," said Pepper. "You're seriously not going to ask her -"**

**"If it pleases the court, which it does," said Tony as if he hadn't heard.**

Pepper looked like she was about to get back onto her soapbox before she made eye contact with Thor and changed her mind. 

**'Natalie Rushman' gave Pepper a smile. "It's no problem," she said, and her heels clicked on the floor as she walked to the boxing ring, seeming to ignore Pepper's "I'm sorry, he's very eccentric."**

Tony's fists tightened at the comment, hidden by the bulk of his partners next to him. They just held him tighter as they watched the redhead treat him like a toddler for no reason. 

**Tony lifted the ropes, and Natasha slipped her shoes off and ducked under them as she climbed inside the ring. She straightened up and eyed Tony again as if sizing him up. Tony eyed Natasha and took another drink from his bottle as Natasha smiled at him.**

**Tony took the bottle from his mouth. "What?" he asked.**

**Natasha just looked up at him.**

**Tony gestured to Happy. "Could you, uh, give her a lesson?" he asked, stepping out of the boxing ring.**

Bruce squeezed Tony around the middle, bring back the game. The billionaire just laughed, only his partners seeing that it was at Natasha's arrogance. The move was such an oldy, but a goody. 

**Happy obligingly stepped up to Natasha. "Um-hm, no problem," he said. Natasha threw a look over her shoulder as Tony went to sit down by the new CEO of Stark Industries.**

**"Pepper," said Tony at once.**

**"What?" asked Pepper, who was obviously less than impressed by the proceedings.**

**"Who is she?" asked Tony.**

**"She is from legal," said Pepper. "And she is potentially a very expensive sexual harassment lawsuit if you keep ogling her like that -"**

Most everyone laughed at that, nobody noticing the dark look in Bruce, Thor, and Tony's eyes over the noise. 

**"I need a new assistant, boss," said Tony. "I need a new assistant."**

**"Yes," Pepper looked at her phone. "And I've got three excellent potential candidates lined up and ready to meet you -"**

**"I don't have time to meet," Tony dismissed, a calculating gleam in his eyes once he realized how blatantly Natasha was eavesdropping and nodding along like he was doing exactly as she asked. He knew his move. "I need someone now, I feel like it's her."**

**Pepper looked up with the smile she always wore when Tony was being exasperating. "No, it's not," she said.**

"Do you make a habit of treating your bosses like toddlers? Or was it just Tony?" Clint asked snidely, disgusted with himself at how he had never realized that the dynamics of the couple's relationship was so off. 

Pepper just blushed darkly and ignored the eyes on her. 

**"You ever box before?" asked Happy of Natasha.**

**"I have, yes," said Natasha.**

**"What, like Tae Bo? Booty Bootcamp? Crunch? Something like that?" asked Happy.**

Rhodey winced, knowing his friend's propensity to put his foot in his mouth well. 

**Natasha's mask slipped, her smile almost following before she got herself back together. . She cleared her throat and seemed to be fumbling for an answer.**

**"How do I spell your name, Natalie?" called Tony purposely just in time.**

Bruce nudged Tony again, laughing quietly when it caused the smaller man to pinball between him and Thor for a moment. 

**Natasha turned her head. "R-U-S-H-M-A-N," she said.**

**Tony clapped his still-gloved hands together, and the table next to him woke up with desktop icons appearing on the glass surface.**

Most of the SHIELD agents looked vaguely envious of the technology before Nick pulled himself together and Clint stopped trying to hide his awe.

"2008," He muttered to himself in slight admiration. 

**"What, are you going to Google her now?" asked Pepper.**

**"Hum? I thought I was ogling her," said Tony, deliberately absentminded, only some of the audience noticing that it was calculated. He began scrolling through numerous files attached to Natalie Rushman. "Oh, wow," he said approvingly. "Very, very impressive individual."**

"If I hadn't known something was up before then the search would have tipped it off," Tony muttered to his partners. 

**"You're so predictable, you know that?" asked Pepper, visibly getting annoyed.**

**"She's fluent in French," Tony went on, finding an array of very alluring pictures. "Italian, Russian, Latin - who speaks Latin?"**

**"No one speaks Latin," bulldozed Pepper. "It's a dead language -"**

**"No one speaks Latin?" Tony continued scrolling, found a tantalizing picture of Natasha modeling intimates, and enlarged it.**

"I mean seriously, who puts basically nudes in a job application if they aren't after something?" 

Bruce just nodded indulgently as the smaller man worked himself up, sharing a fond look with Thor before they started petting him to get him calmer. None of the team even noticed the exchange. 

**"You can read Latin," Pepper was saying. "or you can write Latin, but you can't speak Latin -"**

**"Did you model in Tokyo?" asked Tony. "Cause she modeled in Tokyo."**

**"Well -" The unfortunate Pepper seemed to have had her fill.**

Tony snickered at the way that the line had affected the redhead, petty satisfaction filling him. He only tried to stop himself when Bruce gave him 'the look'. 

**Natasha was still watching Tony and Pepper bickering from the boxing ring ("I need her; she's got everything that I need -") when Happy spoke from behind her - "Rule number one: never take your eye off your oppo -"**

**Natasha's head snapped around, and her left hand closed on Happy's right arm. She pushed sideways on the arm, and in an instant, her body had flipped completely around, her feet flying over her head and her legs fastening around Happy's neck. The man topped like a ninepin.**

"How the hell did she think that she wouldn't get figured out? Like what the fuck?" Tony was muttering again, practically purring when Thor started messing with his hair. 

"Nice move, Tasha," Wanda congratulated, most of the room following.

Over the sounds of their ass-kissing, the team never noticed Tony's mumbling. 

**"Whoa!" cried Tony, realization in his eyes as Pepper howled over his exclamation "Oh, my God!"**

**"Hu-wah!" said Natasha, unwinding her legs from Happy's throat and getting up.**

**"Happy!" squeaked Pepper anxiously.**

**"That's what I'm talking about," Tony muttered for Natasha's benefit as he got up and approached the ring again.**

Thor, joining their game, held Tony tighter in appreciation for the move his love had made. 

**"Just slipped," said Happy climbing to his feet rather more slowly than Natasha.**

**"You did?" Tony asked with clearly faked skepticism as he rang the bell. "Looks like a TKO to me!"**

Most of the team was reluctantly laughing, not wanting to find something Tony did funny but having the crack up anyway. 

**Natasha had by this time slipped nimbly out of the ring and down to the floor in front of Tony. "I just need your impression," she said seductively as she put on her shoes.**

**Tony squinted. "You have a quiet reserve? I don't know - you've got an old soul -"**

Bruce started laughing, remembering the book he had read that technique out of and tactfully ignored the bewildered looks thrown his way. Tony just smiled with him.

**"I meant your fingerprint," clarified Natasha, starting to get visibly impatient as she picked up her file and opened it.**

**"Right," said Tony, and he pulled out what seemed to be a sort of sticker.**

"Stickers?" Steve asked in a 'what the fuck' voice.

Tony just laughed quietly as the movie played on. 

**"So, how're we doing?" asked Pepper with her most professional smile, coming up to Tony and Natasha.**

"Goldigging bitch," Clint muttered to himself, only Tony, Thor, and Bruce hearing him because of proximity.

It took most of their considerate effort not to instantly and loudly agree. 

**"Great," said Tony. "Just wrapping up, hey." He punched the sticker down on the page in Natasha's folder. "You're the boss."**

**"Will that be all, Mr. Stark?" asked Natasha, throwing her errant hair back over her shoulder.**

**"No," began Tony, but at that moment Pepper said, "Yes, that will be all, Ms. Rushman, thank you very much."**

**And before Tony could protest, Natasha had turned with the folder and walked out of the room. Tony stared after her until she was out of sight.**

**Tony turned back to Pepper. "I want one," he said whinging even though anyone who knew the man could see the violent mischief in his eyes.**

**"No," said Pepper, and her lips puckered before she smiled again.**

Rhodey just shook his head, seeing much more of what Tony was hiding than the redhead and wondering how he could have misinterpreted the girl so bad. 

**And then, while a loud, driving rhythm pounded over the speakers, there was a glimpse of a town on a green hillside that sloped down to the sea ("Monaco", according to the subtitle). An announcer spoke in French announcing the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique.**

**At that moment, with two security guards riding in front, a car which was of course a Grand Prix pulled to a stop in front of the Hotel de Paris. Tony Stark stepped out of the back door, and anybody that happened to be sitting or standing where they could see him at once burst into applause. Tony raised two fingers in salute.**

**On the other side of the car, Happy opened the door for the new CEO of Stark Industries, who was wearing a blue dress with white polka-dots which was slightly off-the-shoulder, with matching pumps -because Pepper never appeared in public without pumps. As Happy turned to follow Pepper and Tony into the building, the viewers saw that he was carrying a bright red-and-silver briefcase.**

**Inside the hotel, which was filled with people wearing only the most expensive-looking clothes you could imagine (you saw it more with the women's hats and shoes and purses than anything else) Tony led the way into what seemed to be the dining room.**

**"You know, it's Europe," said Tony, turning briefly to Pepper. "Whatever happens in the next twenty minutes, just - go with it."**

Bruce and Thor, already knowing what was going to happen pressed their lips together tightly to stop from laughing. Natasha looked high and mighty while the rest of the team looked ready to launch themselves at the billionaire for daring to mess with the 'fragile lady'. 

**"Go with it?" asked Pepper suspiciously. "Go with what?"**

**But Tony said "Hey!" and removed his sunglasses to look at . . .**

**"Mr. Stark?" said the voice of Natasha, and then there she was in a very fetching pink dress with a very professional smile. "Hello, how was your flight?"**

**"It was excellent," said Tony, and he took a small glass from a tray that was being offered him by a waiter. "Boy, it's good to see you."**

**Pepper looked from Tony to Natasha in obvious shock.**

Most of the room was copying Pepper, only Natasha and Fury looking very pleased with themselves. It was no wonder they couldn't see Tony was just as pleased with himself over their arrogance. 

**"We have one photographer from the ACM if you don't mind," said Natasha, gesturing over her shoulder, and a man who had been standing behind her raised a camera.**

**"When did this happen?" asked Pepper, her teeth gritted in a smile that obviously did not touch her eyes.**

**"You made me do it," said Tony, his mouth also stretched into a smile meant clearly for the camera only.**

**"I made you do what?" demanded Pepper.**

Bruce snickered, the way he had been imagining the redhead's face when Tony first told them not doing it justice. 

**"Smile," said Tony, pointing to the photographer. "Great. Stop acting constipated, don't flare your nostrils."**

**Pepper chuckled without mirth. "Oh, you are so predictable," she said again as the camera flashed. "That's the amazing thing -"**

"Do you always have to get the last word?" Rhodey asked the room in general, trying to finally get a feel for the women he doesn't really know a thing about. 

The redhead looked extremely betrayed before she just sniffed and ignored the rest of the room. 

**"Right this way," said Natasha, and Tony followed her across the dining room to one of the large windows overlooking the race track.**

**"You look fantastic," he told her.**

**"Why thank you very much," Natasha said faux shyly.**

**"But that's unprofessional," Tony went on. "What's on the docket?"**

**"You have a nine-thirty dinner," said Natasha, smiling up at him.**

**"Perfect," said Tony, putting his sunglasses back on. "I'll be there at eleven. Is this us?" He pointed at a table next to the window.**

Steve looked like he was going to comment, already puffing up before he saw the tint of green in Bruce's eyes and the lightning in Thor's. Tony just looked him dead in the eye with what he liked to call his 'Merchant of Death Stare'. 

**"It can be," said Natasha, her arms folded behind her back.**

**"Great, make it us," said Tony, and Natasha stepped aside to tap a waiter on the arm.**

**Meanwhile, Pepper had walked up to a man in a white suit jacket. "Mr. Musk," she greeted him. "How are you?"**

**"Hello, Pepper," said Mr. Musk, rising to his feet and shaking her hand. "Congratulations on the promotion."**

**"Thank you very much," said Pepper politely.**

Clint immediately snickered, bringing the trio with him and only explaining when he felt the rest of the team's eyes on him.

"That guy thinks that Pepper slept with Tony to get the promotion," 

Pepper went bright red and she looked furious before it turned to embarrassment when Natasha join in with the archer, remembering the look from her memories. 

**Tony had noticed the man. "Elon! How's it going?" he asked, getting up to shake the man's hand in his turn. "Those Merlin engines are fantastic."**

**"Thank you," said Elon Musk. "I've got an idea for an electric jet."**

**"You do?" said Tony, already a step past the other man.**

"Why do you never let other people talk to you about their ideas?" Wanda asked rudely.

"Because most of them are literally not possible and I don't want to waste my time. It will never be physically possible to make an electric jet." Tony, far beyond caring what the people in the room thought of him beside their little trio, just looked straight into the witch's eyes and said the words clamly. 

**"Yeah," said Musk.**

**"We'll make it work," said Tony over his shoulder as he walked after Pepper. "You want a massage?" he asked, putting his arm around her.**

**"Oh, God," sighed Pepper, who had obviously been disrespected quite enough for one day. "No, I don't want a massage."**

Thor quietly chuckled at her obvious anger, 

**"I'll have Natalie make an appointment," said Tony as he walked with Pepper toward the bar. "I don't want you to be tense -"**

**"I don't want Natalie to do anything -" protested Pepper.**

**"By the way, I didn't mean to spring this on you," Tony went on.**

**"- thank you very much," finished Pepper rather wearily, and put her glass up on the counter.**

**"Green is not your best color," said Tony, coming around to stand in front of Pepper but now the angle from which they were looking at him afforded them a view of a familiar face some few seats behind. He spotted Tony and leaned over to look.**

**"Oh, please, would you stop?" Pepper was just beginning angrily when the voice of Justin Hammer said "Anthony? Is that you?" and was followed in short order by the man himself.**

**"Hey, pal!" said Hammer, clapping Tony on the shoulder.**

Rhodey hissed in sympathy as the man touched the billionaire, getting a huff of laughter tinged with remembered disgust from Tony. 

**"My least favorite person on earth - Justin Hammer," said Tony with only a hint of irony, turning only at the last possible moment.**

"What is with you and Hammer?" Clint asked, leaning forwards and hoping to get the actual story, not just journalist bullshit.

"We both went to MIT except I'm crazy smart and he's just not. He hated me the second I passed the exit exam to a class he failed without ever even taking it and hasn't found out how to just let it go," 

Most of the team laughed at the petulant edge in the billionaire's voice. 

**"How're ya doin'?" grinned Hammer. "You're not the only rich guy here with a fancy car." He pointed back over his shoulder. "You know Christine Everhart from Vanity Fair, you guys know each other?" The asshole asked as another familiar face appeared over Hammer's shoulder, smiling smugly.**

"Seriously? Her again?!" Clint practically shouted, prompting another round of loud chuckling.

**"Hi, yes!" said Christine cordially.**

**"Hi, yes, we do," returned Pepper more politely than warmly.**

**"Yes, roughly," said Tony, regarding Christine in a rather wary way.**

Bruce hugged Tony to him, seeing that the caution was obviously faked. 

**Hammer pointed at Pepper, still smirking. "BTW," he said to Christine. "Big story - the new CEO of Stark Industries! Congratulations!"**

**"I know, I know!" said Christine. "And my editor will kill me if I don't grab a quote for our Powerful Women issue -"**

**"Oh?" inquired Pepper.**

**"Can I -"**

**"Sure," said Pepper.**

**"She's actually doing a big spread on me for Vanity Fair," said Hammer. "I thought I'd throw her a bone, you know."**

Tony just snorted in derision.

**"Right," said Pepper, looking from Hammer to Christine. "Well, she did quite a spread on Tony last year."**

**"And she wrote a story as well," said Tony, rather hurriedly in his obvious bid to get away from Hammer immediately.**

Clint chuckled as Tony carefully tried to escape from the conversation. 

**"It was very impressive -" Pepper interjected.**

**"That was good," Tony went on.**

**"- very well done," finished Pepper. ("Thank you!" said Christine). "So, I'm gonna -" She moved to step away.**

**"Don't leave me," said Tony unexpectedly.**

Rhodey started full on laughing then, bringing most of the room with him at the desperate look on Tony's face. Not that they realized it was mostly faked. 

**"- go wash," finished Pepper severely, and walked off.**

**"Hey, buddy, how're ya doing?" Hammer slid an arm around Tony's shoulders.**

**"I'm all right," Tony was unsubtly trying to move away from the other man.**

**"Looking gorgeous," Hammer commented.**

**Just then a camera flashed from somewhere in front of them, and Tony grimaced, reaching for his sunglasses and sliding them back on. "Please, this is tough," he protested.**

**"Fromage!" said Hammer cheerfully, smiling at the camera. "Say 'Brie'!"**

Clint visibly cringed at that, Steve looking vaguely shell-shocked. 

**Christine was holding up a small recorder up to the two businessmen and was obviously trying to speak to them. "Can I ask you - is this the first time you guys have seen each other - hey, guys -"**

**"Oh, God, that's so awful," said Tony to Hammer, obviously unimpressed by the 'Brie' joke, momentarily smiling for the camera and then pulling away from Hammer.**

**Hammer laughed, and Tony chuckled out of obligation.**

**"Listen -" Christine finally got both Tony and Hammer's attention. "is it the first time you guys have seen each other since the Senate?"**

**"Uh, since he got his contract revoked," remarked Tony, straightening his fine suit-jacket and turning to lead the way to a table which was not the one he'd asked Natasha to set aside for him earlier. "when you were attempting to -"**

This got another round of laughter. 

**"Actually, it's on hold -" Hammer followed Tony, obviously still chagrined about the incident. "It's not -"**

**"That's not what I heard," said Tony. "What's the difference between 'hold' and 'canceled'?"**

Most of the team was on the edges of their seats, wanting to see where the billionaire was going with that. They may not like him but they knew that he was good with words. 

**"Yes, what is?" asked Christine, and the recorder was now definitely pointed toward Hammer more than Tony.**

**"The truth?" Tony mocked with a viciously satisfied light in his eyes.**

The entire room was cracking up, even Fury chuckling slightly. It took over ten minutes to get themselves back together, someone saying 'Fromage' right when it was calming down and triggering it all over again until Tony's stomach physically ached. 

**"No, ah, the truth is - why don't we put that away -" Hammer made a swatting gesture at the recorder as he sat down at the table. "The truth is, I'm actually hoping to present something at your Expo." He picked up a glass that seemed to be full of deep yellow wine and took a drink from it.**

**"Well," said Tony, eyeing Hammer skeptically. "if you invent something that works, I'll make sure I'll get you a slot."**

Rhodey snorted, "It worked alright. It just wasn't your work," 

Steve shot him a questioning look that the army man ignored. 

**Just then Natasha's pink dress appeared behind Tony's shoulder, and the low, husky voice said, "Mr. Stark?"**

**"Yes?" said Tony, getting up.**

**"Your corner table is ready," said Natasha, smiling up at him, and Tony followed her away from Hammer's table gladly enough.**

**"I actually have a slot this year, yes I do," Hammer remarked, getting comfortable in his chair.**

**"Hammer needs a slot, Christine," called Tony over his shoulder as he went, pointing and giving her one of his globally prized smiles.**

**"We kid - yeah!" Hammer laughed to cover his annoyance. "We kid, we're kidders."**

Even Wanda looked disgusted at the grown man's desperate and stalkerish behavior. 

**Inside his hotel room, Tony pricked his finger with the little blood-reading device, and the words BLOOD TOXICITY: 53% flashed across the screen.**

**As Tony gave a small wince and shook his hand, they saw that he was standing in front of a large mirror. His shirt was unbuttoned just enough for them to see the Arc Reactor, surrounded by the pale, translucent flesh and the dark blue, almost black veins. He looked at the device, and then down at his finger, which he briefly put into his mouth. Then he placed his hands on the marble countertop in front of the mirror and gazed down for a long moment. The audience could practically feel the remembered realization - I've got a month left at best if this keeps going.**

Bruce and Thor held their partner tighter, knowing the look in his eyes better than anyone. 

**Then Tony lifted his head. "Got any new bad ideas?" he asked his reflection.**

"Yeah, not let's talk about instead just 'Got any new bad-" Pepper started, having gotten her pride back somehow only to promptly lose it again at Toy's next words. 

"When I offered you an omelet and the strawberry incident I was trying to tell you. Did you know that heavy metal poisoning makes it so that you can't really think straight and you start losing memories? I only knew that you and strawberries were related, not why." The calm delivery made almost everyone in the room wince, Pepper quickly paling as she remembered how she acted during both occasions. 

* * *

_Hope you like it, (Roseriley0612@gmail.com) you can email or comment any pairings/prompts that you would like to see from me. -Rose_


	5. Race Car

**Surrounded by security guards, photographers, and eager fans, Tony was outside striding toward the race track, dressed in a blue and black jumpsuit with the name "Stark" stitched in white letters across the front. He jumped over the low wall and onto the race track.**

Pepper got that constipated look again while Clint just winced, knowing that that would never turn out well. 

**In the hotel dining room, a television was streaming Tony live behind Justin Hammer's head as he continued what was obviously an ongoing interview. "Tony and I - I love Tony Stark," he said magnanimously. "Tony loves me. We're not competitors. His being out of the picture created tremendous opportunities for Hammer Industries, you know? Everything that Tony and I do -"**

**But Christine's eyes had traveled up to the screen almost automatically, and at this moment Hammer noticed this. His head swiveled round to look at what she was looking at, even as he tried to continue to speak. "- is a healthy - competition -"**

**On the television, Tony turned to face the camera. "Well, what's the use of having and owning a race car," he asked, pausing for the translator next to him. "if you don't drive it?"**

"How about living?!" Steve said, having already gotten the gist of racing from Wanda and furious. 

With the encouragement of Captain America, Pepper started in on Tony again with Rhodey nodding in the background. 

"I thought I was going to die, there is a thing called a bucket list. I don't care if it's against your religion to participate in car races, it's my life and I'm not going to live it how you want because you think your opinion is the only one that matters," Tony defended himself, only Bruce and Thor realizing how much it took out of him to stand up against Rhodey and Pepper.

**The crowd on the other side of the low wall cheered as if he had said something profound.**

**"Is he driving?" asked Hammer in surprise, turning back to Christine.**

**Pepper, who as it turned out had gone to sit down at a side table by herself, had caught sight of the footage. Her eyes widened as Tony walked up to the man who had clearly been going to drive Tony's race car and spoke to him.**

**Pepper looked frantically around. "Natalie? Natalie!" she called, beckoning.**

"Don't want an assistant?" Clint asked snidely, holding in his laughter only because he could see Tony was having trouble with his own composure. 

**"Yes, Miss Potts?" Natasha appeared by Pepper's side as if by magic.**

**"Did you know about this?" asked Pepper.**

**"This is the first that I've known of it," said Natasha.**

"That's a no," Natasha muttered, still bitter that the billionaire had tricker her over and over without her even noticing. 

**Pepper looked back at the television just in time to see the name Defilipo erased from the list of contestants and replaced with the name Stark. "This cannot happen," she said.**

**"Absolutely, I understand," said Natasha. "How can I help you?"**

**"Where's Happy?" asked Pepper.**

**"He's waiting outside," was the reply.**

**"Okay, get him," said Pepper. "I need Happy."**

**"Right away," said Natasha, and she vanished.**

"Why do you need Happy?" Wanda asked, confused about what a driver would be good for just then.

"He had the case," Pepper just said. 

"What do you need a case for?" Steve asked, already getting ready to give a lecture on whatever the hell was going on in his mind.

"Why don't you wait and see?" Tony snapped, wanting to get the oversharing of his life over with as fast as possible. 

**Hammer turned away from the television and tried to resume the interview. "Tony is - you know, he . . . we're not - we're not competitive," he went on. "You know what I mean?"**

Clint just snorted, having seen some of the legendary arguments the two had. Steve and Wanda looked confused but easily just settled back to watch when Natasha motioned for them to do so. 

**"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Christine looked down at her notes. "You know, can you excuse me just one second?"**

**"Why don't you -" Hammer tried to keep her. " - just read me what you wrote -"**

"Desperate is a bad look on him," Fury said idly, mostly focusing on what he could gather from the scene. 

It got shocked laughter from the assassins, Tony reminiscing to when Fury was 'Uncle Nick'. 

**"I will," said Christine, moving to get up. "I will, after -"**

**"Just read it back to me -"**

**"But I have to make a quick phone call," said Christine, pulling out her cell phone and hastily getting up.**

"The phone call excuse? Ouch," Natasha said, miming a burn on her forarm. 

**"Where are you going?" asked Hammer, "I've got some caviar coming."**

Steve made a disgusted sound at that, Wanda joining in when she caught the memory of Steve's experience through his thoughts. Tony was instantly on high alert, bringing his partners with him. 

**But Christine, with the words, "This is great, this is great stuff - I'll be right back -" had already vanished, and Hammer turned almost unwillingly to look back up at the television.**

**Tony was now in the race car, his helmet on his head. He raised a finger in greeting as he looked into the camera, almost as if he knew Hammer was watching and wanted him to know it. Hammer scowled.**

Rhodey just started shouting like he couldn't control himself anymore, "I can't believe that you were that reckless! You haven't pulled a move like that since I found you convulsing on the bathroom floor when you were 24!" 

Tony, having previously been bewildered by the man's reaction, instantly went cold at the mention of his OD experience, "I'm sorry that I was going to die and thought that I had nothing to live for. On the other hand... Where were you when this was happening?" 

The army man stopped talking just a quickly as he started, second-hand embarrassment making Pepper color.

Most of the team was shocked at how efficient Tony was with using his words to break people down but they hadn't seen anything yet. 

**On the race track, Tony revved the engine a couple of times and then gave the assistant next to him the thumbs up to indicate he was ready. The man stepped back. Up above in the crowded stands, the crowd of fans cheered eagerly.**

**Five sets of traffic lights on the pole above the race cars glowed brightly, and an announcer began counting down in French. Then the lights turned red, and the race began.**

**The cars all zoomed off in a line down the track, motors whining loudly. They turned corners and steered curves at breakneck speed.**

**For a moment they passed close to the sea, which of course looked very pretty even next to a race track.**

**And then they saw a figure dressed in an orange jumpsuit and a helmet labeled 'Intervention,' walking in a line with other similarly dressed attendants. His face was just visible underneath the clear part of the helmet.**

**Tony was still racing, and seemed to be doing fairly well, though he was not in the lead.**

"Damn, I wasn't expecting you to be that good," Clint said through his surprise, having expected the billionaire to be last like most of the room. 

Tony just got a vaguely smug look, Bruce and the assassins instantly seeing it was fake and Thor only taking a moment more. 

**Inside the hotel, Pepper sat obviously waiting for Happy to arrive.**

**Ivan broke away from the rest of the line and walked next to the track with all the confidence of a hunter whose quarry is caught and waiting for him.**

"Oh shit," Natasha said, realizing the relevance from actually being there. 

**Tony and the other drivers came out of a tunnel and zoomed along the track.**

**Then Ivan came to an opening in the gate, and stepped out onto the race track, letting the first of the contestants pass him by. He stood in the middle of the road, waiting.**

A lot of the team winced, realizing that something was about to happen.

**In the dining room, Pepper's eyes widened with horror.**

**Hammer joined the small, well-dressed throng that was gathering in front of the television, just as enthralled as the rest.**

**Ivan threw off his helmet and pulled open his orange jacket, under which he wore no shirt; but the Arc Reactor he had built gleamed brightly in the middle of his chest. Then his arms came down, and in each of his hands was now a length of steel which crackled and sparked with electricity.**

"He's got an arc reactor?" Tony couldn't tell who had asked, the question coming from several people at once, so he just elected to ignore it. 

**The whole back of Ivan's jacket was burned away by something underneath, which turned out to be a harness-like device that he had fitted over his body and arms to accommodate the Arc Reactor and the whips. There was no armor, like Tony's Iron Man Suit. Ivan's device was clearly built for a single purpose - to kill.**

**Then, as a driver that was not Tony came screeching toward Ivan, he stepped forward and raised his arm, bringing one of the whips down across the front of the race car.**

**The whole front right corner of the car snapped completely off as neatly as a pair of scissors cuts a sheet of paper, and the rest of the car flipped up into the air and went spinning down the road before going up in a burst of fire.**

Pepper looked seconds away from getting back on her soapbox before she exchanged a look with Rhodey and decided not to comment. Tony just nodded condescendingly at the good decision, not that anyone but Bruce and Thor were able to see it. 

**The watchers in the dining room gasped in horror, with the notable exception of Hammer, whose gaze was sharply alert.**

"Oh, that asshole," Natasha muttered, pieces of the puzzle she hadn't seen before fitting into place. 

"What?" Steve practically demanded, backing off when the two redheads both glared at him. 

**Pepper looked anxiously around. There, in the doorway of the room, stood Happy with the shiny red and silver briefcase.**

"What's in it?" Steve started up again before Wanda just put a hand on his shoulder and shook her head.

Tony just silently chuckled at the hilarity of a tiny girl getting the super soldier to get off his high horse. 

**Next moment Happy was jumping into the driver's seat of the car that they'd driven to the hotel.**

**"Go, go!" shouted Pepper, flinging herself into the back seat.**

**Happy started up in record time and drove straight for the race track, flinging Pepper back against the seat as he did so. "Hang on!" he said as he came up to a gate.**

"What the hell?" Clint asked the room at large, Pepper looking about ready to explode with the effort it was taking to hold back her words. 

"Yeah, well that's what happens when Tony decides to make decisions for himself," She looked smug, especially so after Rhodey nodded in agreement.

Tony tensed, unnoticeable to anyone but Thor and Bruce with how close they were sitting, before throwing out the big guns.

"I tried to tell you both about three times each and every single time you both talked over me and belittled me to the point where I didn't want anything to do with you anymore. How's that for decision making and friendship?" 

Pepper and Rhodey visibly flinched before getting a hold of themselves, mercifully they stopped talking. 

**Happy sailed through the gate with a crash, and with a screech of swerving tires, he swung round to follow the track. The other race cars were zooming by them to right and left.**

**There would have been total chaos in the stands had it not been for the security guards, who were hurrying the civilians out of harm's way as the smoke and fumes from the explosion filled the air.**

**Then Tony came flying round a bend, onto the stretch where Ivan stood waiting for him. There was no time to react - before he could even think of braking, he was nearly on top of Ivan, and Ivan had swung the whip right across the front of the race car.**

Most of the room was on the edge of their seats, so focused they didn't realize the silent conversation between Nick and Tony. The older man knew that Tony knew how to race, that letting the older man wonder why he wasn't even trying. 

**The entire front section, including the front wheels, snapped completely off, and Tony with the rest of the car went spinning through the air.**

**The car landed upside down, and they could see Tony beginning to struggle out of its ruins.**

Rhodey looked ready to start up but only took one look at Thor's protective stance before changing his mind. 

**Ivan, satisfied that Tony was in his grasp, walked toward what was left of the race car in no hurry. Tony pulled off his helmet and stared at Ivan (upside down, of course) as if not quite believing his eyes.**

**More drivers came within sight of Ivan, and tried to turn around or stop, but the moment they came within about five feet of Ivan, they all exploded violently, outlining Ivan's frame in fire and smoke.**

**In the dining room, everyone watching gasped in horror - except Hammer.**

"That asshole," Wanda spat, too invested in the movie to remember that she was supposed to hate Tony. 

Tony didn't miss it though, just smirking into Bruce's shoulder and silently laughing that the girl was defending him. 

**In the back seat of the car, Pepper leaned forward. "Give me the case," she said.**

**"Here, take it," Happy slid the case back between the front seats to her, not daring to take his eyes off the road.**

**"Where's the key?!" cried Pepper in alarm.**

**"It's in my pocket!" said Happy.**

**"Car!" howled Pepper, and Happy swerved to avoid yet another contestant just in time.**

**Ivan marched up to Tony's car, and swung his whip straight down the middle of it. But when the two pieces fell apart, Tony was nowhere to be seen.**

**Then, from behind, Tony rammed Ivan on the head with part of a car door. Ivan turned quick as lightning and swung his whips again. Tony's makeshift weapon flew out of his hands and he went tumbling to the ground.**

"Jesus," Steve said, his Brooklyn accent coming out combined with his Captain America is Disappointed in you Face #2 making him look condescending and seconds away from recording another PSA.

The thought of the PSAs just made Tony want to laugh, making any intimidation that the expression might have had a moot point. 

**Ivan brought down one of his whips, and Tony rolled aside just in time. He scooted backward until Ivan swung the whip again, and again he rolled out of the way.**

**A third swing of the whip cracked the asphalt just between his legs and came inches from killing him.**

**Tony scrambled to his feet and made a bolt for the remains of another car (this one was green) and tried to jump up on top of it as Ivan swung for him again. He missed, and fell flat on his back on the ground. He groaned in pain and tried to re-orient himself.**

Pepper was visibly seconds away from starting another fight before Clint just glared until she changed her mind. 

**Ivan was once again in no hurry. He took his time walking up to Tony, who had the chance to look at the car in front of him and notice the gasoline dripping from the tank. Behind him, Ivan cracked the ground with his whips like a child at play, practically skipping in glee.**

**Then, just as Ivan brought down the whips on the green car, Tony jumped up and sprang away just in time. The car went up in flames, and for a moment Tony and Ivan could not see one another.**

"Well shit," Natasha said, seeing the action for the first time and realizing how good Tony was at dodging. 

**As Tony steadied himself he realized that his arm was on fire. Hastily he began beating at the flames; but by this time Ivan had seen him and was again coming up on him.**

**Tony managed to put out the fire, and he backed away as Ivan came on him yet again. But at that moment a black shape tore around the bend and came flying into view.**

**Tony, recognizing it, made a dash for the fence and swung himself up it. He did not get very far, but he did get far enough to avoid Ivan's fate of being smashed into the railing by Happy.**

"Jesus, who were you going for?" Wanda asked in genuine confusion, the earnest expression only making the way Pepper finched that much better. 

**"Are you okay?" shouted Happy as Tony swung himself down from the fence. Pepper was screaming.**

**"Yeah," snapped Tony, marching up to the front window. "Were you heading for me or him?"**

**"I was trying to scare him!" protested Happy.**

**"Cause I can't tell!" Tony went on indignantly.**

Clint nodded in agreement, Pepper coloring at the second person agreeing with her assessment. 

**"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?" screamed Pepper. "GET IN THE CAR RIGHT NOW!"**

**"Better security!" Tony barked. "I was attacked! We need better security! You're CEO!"**

**"Get in the car!" said Happy, who was really holding it together amazingly well.**

**Tony marched around the back of the car, still griping. "Better security measures. God, this is embarrassing!"**

**And then Ivan moved.**

**Tony was still talking as he flung open the back door - "First vacation in two years!" - when half of the car door suddenly broke off in Tony's hand. Ivan's whip had split it right down the middle.**

**Tony reeled back in surprise. Pepper and Happy both cried out, but Happy instantly threw the car into reverse, backed it up, switched back to Drive, and slammed Ivan into the fence again.**

**"Oh my God!" howled poor Pepper.**

"Is the only thing you can do scream?" Nick muttered, rubbing his head trying to ease his building headache. 

**"I got him!" shouted Happy.**

**"Hit him again! Hit him again!" cried Tony, and he reached into the back seat. "Football!"**

**This must have meant 'give me the case' for Pepper tried to pass it to him, but Happy backed up again and rammed into Ivan again, and so Pepper fell back still holding it.**

**"I got him!" shouted Happy again.**

**"Take the case!" Pepper was screeching as Happy backed up for the third time. "Take it! Take the case!"**

**"Give him the case!" shouted Happy as he rammed the car yet again.**

**"Stop banging the car!" wailed Pepper, and she screamed as the airbag blew up in Happy's face and Ivan raised his whips.**

"My God, you two are a mess," Natasha deadpanned just watching in abject horror as the two in the car couldn't even figure out how to throw the briefcase out of the car. 

**Ivan brought down one of the whips right down the front and middle of the car, which didn't split it immediately but obviously damaged it pretty badly.**

**"Calm down!" shouted Tony even as Ivan twirled his whips for another strike and this time took off half the top of the car with one stroke.**

**"Oh, God!" screeched Pepper.**

**"The case, please!" barked Tony, clapping his hands. "Come on!"**

**Pepper grabbed the case and threw it out of the car. It landed on the ground and slid to Tony, who put his foot on the handle.**

**And then the briefcase opened to reveal many folded layers of red and silver.**

**It was a Suit, obviously designed to be easily transported without attracting suspicion, in case of emergencies like this. It unfolded partly as Tony bent down and grasped two more handles. He pulled the main part of the Suit up and put it on his chest, stretching out his arms as the gold-titanium mesh and outer shell fitted itself over his arms, down his back, around his legs, and finally, over his head. The Arc Reactor glowed brightly as the Suit connected to it.**

"Oh," Steve muttered in embarrassment, blushing harder when Tony just smirked.

The billionaire was enjoying watching Steve realize his own lack of observational skills. 

**The civilians who were still in the stands cried out and rushed forward to look as Iron Man appeared before their eyes. He kicked away the car with one foot and sent it skidding into the fence on the other side of the track. Then he turned to deal with Ivan, who glared back at him. Obviously this was not going nearly so smoothly as planned.**

"Please get this over with," said Rhodey, only noticing how shallow and uncaring he sounded when he got dirty looks from almost everyone.

Tony was tense, trying to remember the teenager that he had met at MIT and wondering when the army man had become a stranger. He calmed when Thor's large hands started stroking his back, Bruce pulling him closer to his chest to give the god more room to work his magic. 

**Tony stretched out his left hand, and shot a beam of energy at Ivan just as Ivan swung his whip. The end of the whip curled around Tony's hand and sent him reeling.**

**Ivan swung the other whip, and grazed the front of the Suit just below the Arc Reactor.**

**Tony glanced down at himself in alarm, and then raised his right hand (all the systems in the left hand were completely ruined). He shot another beam at Ivan, who deflected with another swing of his whip.**

**Then Ivan twirled both whips, and one wrapped around Tony's right arm and the other round his neck, crackling.**

**Then Ivan jerked at the whips and flung Tony to the ground. Tony managed to climb to his feet, but he seemed unable to shake off the whips and Ivan flung him again. This time he landed on the front of the torn-up car in front of Happy and Pepper.**

**Ivan dragged him down to the ground and pulled hard on the whip curled round the neck of the Suit.**

The viewers all held their breath anxiously, Pepper and Rhodey both looking ready to cuss Tony out as if that entire situation was his fault. 

**The titanium hissed and sparked, but did not break. Inside the helmet, Tony's monitors flickered.**

**But Tony pulled himself to his feet and curled part of the crackling steel rope around his arm.**

**Tony spun round to wrap another length of the whip around his body, and another and another until at last he was right up on Ivan, ducking under the swing of Ivan's other whip. Then he grabbed Ivan by the front of the harness-like half Suit and slammed him down on the ground.**

**As Ivan lay stunned and stirring only feebly, Tony bent down and ripped the Arc Reactor from the front of the harness-like half-Suit. He looked down at the thing as a team of medical men in black came to carry the injured man away.**

"Where did he get it?" Wanda asked before remembering herself and just looking disinterested.

In the face of her recently re-acquired attitude, Tony just shrugged childishly and continued watching the video. 

**Happy and Pepper, the latter of whom seemed to have had enough excitement for one day, watched Tony from the car, clearly waiting for what he would do next.**

**Then, as the medical team hauled Ivan off, he spat blood in Tony's direction and laughed. "You - you lose!" he cried. "You lose. You lose, Stark!"**

Most everyone in the room looked beyond confused, Steve looking ready to demand answers before he stopped and remembered how that went for him the last time. 

**Tony gazed after Ivan, then back at the Arc Reactor in his hand which his monitor was analyzing. He crumpled it till it fizzled out.**

**There was a brief glimpse of the race track from above as multiple ambulances rushed to help the injured drivers who had managed to survive.**

**Inside the dining room of the Hotel de Paris, everyone who had been watching the fiasco play out stood catching their breath and trying to recover from the shock of what they had just seen - with one exception. A smile was appearing on the face of Justin Hammer.**

"Creepy fucker," Bruce muttered, laughing helplessly when that got Tony to crack up.

 _"Mr. Stark, we ran his prints",_ **said the man closest behind Tony in French as he walked down what was obviously a hall in a prison. Behind the pair were a number of other people who were obviously prison guards and officials.** " _We got nothing back, not even a name,"_

 _"Where are we going?"_ **asked Tony.**

"You speak French?" Natasha asked, confused.

" _I speak a lot of languages, little spider, " _Tony said in a rare Russian dialect that stopped the assassin short.

Bruce just smothered a smile in the billionaire's hair and reveled in Thor's barely there smirk. 

_"Over there",_ **said the man, pointing as he hurried to catch up with Tony (he seemed a good bit shorter than the billionaire and probably had short legs).** " _We're not even sure he speaks English",_ **he added doubtfully.** " _He hasn't said a word since he got here,"_

"He speaks English alright," Rhodey said in a dark voice, sounding much like a puppy trying to growl rather than intimidating. 

_"Five minutes,"_ **said Tony briefly, and he passed by a cell in which some prisoner appeared to be having his picture taken.**

**Then the man who seemed to have been acting as Tony's guide opened a solid-looking door into a blank, impenetrable room with gray walls that somehow managed to look as if they had no color at all. He gave Tony a warning as he stepped inside - alone.**

**Tony let the door fall shut behind him, you could see the inside of a prison cell for the first time. It was a completely square box-like chamber with a narrow cot against one wall and a narrow bench in the middle of the floor to sit on. It was not as tiny and claustrophobia-inducing as her idea of solitary confinement had been, but it was still no pleasant place.**

**Ivan Vanko sat on the bench with his back to the door. He wore nothing but a pair of boxers that were probably standard issue, and in the cheerless light, they saw the tattoos all over his body like a written history of brutality and suffering.**

**For a few seconds, there was silence as Tony walked slowly forward with his hands in his pockets.**

**"Pretty decent tech," he said at length. "Cycles per second were a little low." He drew level with Ivan at length. "You could have doubled up your rotations," he went on as he came around to face Ivan. "You focused the repulsor energy through ionized plasma channels. It's effective, not very efficient. Passable knockoff."**

**Tony walked up to the bench and actually sat down on the other end of it. "I don't get it," he pressed, a well-hidden manipulative edge in his eyes. "A little fine-tuning, you could've made a solid paycheck. Could've sold it to North Korea, China, Iran, or gone right to the black market."**

"Why are you helping him." Nick asked the question like a demand, immediately after regretting it when he recognized the move as one of Howard's interrogation techniques. 

Tony just smirked at him, almost ready to start rolling on the floor with how much the Director missed the mark the first time. The rest of the room just rolled their eyes, thinking that it was just banter that Fury had won. 

**Ivan, who had so far sat still and silent, had now turned his head, and his lips curled in an amused smirk.**

**"You look like you've got friends in low places," said Tony, looking steadily into Ivan's face.**

"You can't just talk to people like that," Steve said from his soapbox, instantly stopping at the dark look in Tony's eyes.

"He's been in and out of prison for his entire life and he had just tried to kill me because my father screwed over his father, why wouldn't he know people in low places?" 

Pepper colored, remembering wondering something very similar and feeling like an idiot for it. 

**Then, at last, Ivan spoke, in perfect, if accented, English. "You come from a family of thieves and butchers," he said softly. "And now, like all guilty men, you try to re-write your own history. And you forget all the lives the Stark family has destroyed."**

**"Speaking of thieves," said Tony as his eyes hardened. "Where did you get this design?"**

**But Ivan merely watched Tony intently. "My father, Anton Vanko," he said.**

**"Well, I never heard of him," said Tony dismissively, but his eyes did not soften.**

**Ivan's eyes dropped to the Arc Reactor gleaming through Tony's black shirt. "My father," he said. "is the reason you're alive."**

Bruce chuckled, knowing the full story and feeling the strong desire to laugh more than anything else. 

**"The reason I'm alive," deadpanned Tony. "is because you had a shot, you took it, and missed."**

**"Did I?" asked Ivan keenly, and the smirk flickered again. Tony did not reply.**

**"If you can make God bleed," said Ivan. "then people will cease to believe in him. And there will be blood in the water, and the sharks will come." He leaned back. "The truth? All I have to do is sit here and watch as the world will consume you."**

"I know I'm good but I never claimed to be a god," Tony complained like it was a hardship to be famous. 

Nobody but his partners realized that the statement was a legitimate concern of his, a problem he had but was too afraid to bring up normally. 

**"Where will you be watching the world consume me from?" asked Tony. "Oh, that's right, a prison cell." He stood up. "I'll send you a bar of soap."**

**"Hey, Tony, before you go," said Ivan, and Tony paused on his way to the door.**

**"Palladium in the chest - painful way to die," said Ivan.**

**Tony purposefully stiffened and rapped on the door to be let out rather more sharply than necessary.**

"You already knew that he knew," Clint said with certainty, seeing that his body language wasn't completely honest. 

"Yup. I didn't really care because I had tested every known element and there was literally no cure," Tony casually said, proud when Natasha and Fury blanched a little at the dig. 

**As the door closed behind the American, the Russian gave a laugh of triumph.**

"What are you laughing about?" Wanda questioned, watching the man like a butterfly pinned to a bulletin board. 

**And then, on a television screen, Senator Stern was speaking. The subtitle was his name and a caption that said 'Stark should hand over Suit!' "It's just unbelievable," he said. "It proves that the genie is out of the bottle, and this man has no idea what he's doing. He thinks of the Iron Man weapon as a toy!"**

**Pepper sat in a surprisingly comfortable-looking chair on a luxurious-looking plane across from the television. Behind her, in the doorway of the rear cabin, Tony appeared with a covered plate. He paused when he saw who was on.**

**"I was at a hearing," continued Stern. "where Mr. Stark, in fact, was adamant that these suits can't exist anywhere else, don't exist anywhere else, never will exist anywhere else, at least for five to ten years. And here we are in Monaco, realizing, uh-oh, these suits exist now."**

"Somehow, it's not hard for me to believe that he's Hydra," Clint muttered with a disgusted look on his face.

Tony just laughed, knowing the feelings associated with the Senator well. 

**"Mute," Tony demanded, and the television obediently silenced itself.**

**"He should be giving me a medal," said Tony, advancing into the room with the dish and sitting down with it across from Pepper. "That's the truth." He put down the dish on a tiny table between their seats and produced a napkin-wrapped fork and knife, which he set down on the ledge next to Pepper.**

**"What is that?" asked Pepper just as curiously.**

**"This is your in-flight meal," said Tony, and he lifted the dish to reveal what looked more like a chemical reaction than something to eat. It looked like there might be egg or cheese or both, and there was something green mixed in that was probably spinach, and the little brown things were almost certainly portobello mushrooms (almost certainly).**

Bruce clutched Tony to him tighter, knowing that the man knew how to cook and seeing the tactic for what it was. Thor looked confused before recognizing the game they had been playing and paying closer attention. 

**Pepper looked from the so-called omelette to Tony. "Did you just make that?" she asked incredulously.**

**"Yeah, where do you think I've been for three hours?" Tony spread his free arm.**

**"Tony," said Pepper, looking him straight in the face. "What are you not telling me?"**

**Tony turned his head, and looked out the window next to him. The sun was setting, and its light slanted through the pane, brightening and softening his dark hair while it set Pepper's ablaze in a halo of bright red and deep gold.**

**"I don't want to go home," said Tony at length. "At all."**

**Pepper just smiled gently, and waited.**

**"Let's cancel my birthday party, and, ah . . . we're in Europe, let's go to Venice, Cipriani. Remember?"**

"Oh," Pepper whispered, the outside perspective letting her see the conversation for what it was once the emotions were removed. 

Tony didn't find any joy in the way she realized, just glad that he didn't have to spell something else out for her. 

**Pepper chuckled. "Oh, yes."**

**"It's a great place to . . . be healthy . . ."**

Most people in the room winced, understanding that he was trying to plan out how to tell the woman about the poisoning and seeing from the redhead's face that it didn't go well. 

**"I don't think this is the right time," said Pepper, and her brow creased with lines of care. "We're in kind of a mess."**

**"Yeah, but maybe that's why it's the best time," said Tony. "Cause then we -"**

**"Well," said Pepper patiently. "I think as the CEO I need to show up."**

**"As CEO," said Tony, looking down. "You are entitled to a - a leave." He glanced cautiously back up at Pepper.**

"Is she?" Natasha asked, her genuine curiosity the only thing Tony found appealing enough to answer to.

"Yes, she could have taken leave and been completely fine," The billionaire said it in a way that sounded like he had repeated it over and over, giving it more importance than it was actually worth but glad he had taken the effort when Pepper grimaced. 

**"A leave?" inquired Pepper more sharply.**

**"A company retreat," Tony amended hastily.**

**"A retreat?" repeated Pepper. "During a time like this?"**

**"Well, I'm just saying," said Tony. "to recharge our batteries and figure it all out."**

**Pepper leaned back against her seat. "Not everybody runs on batteries, Tony," she said softly.**

**But Tony just smiled sadly and looked away. The plane glided through the evening sky, and he did not tell her.**

"I'm sor-" Pepper instantly started, just stopping when she saw the look Tony was giving her.

'Too little too late' came to the CEO's mind. 

**Ivan Vanko sat idly in a cell that did not look like the room in which Tony had visited him. It was much smaller, there was a small iron "table" projecting from the wall, and there was a heavily barred door with an opening for food to be handed through.**

**Through this opening, a guard who had just walked up pushed a tray through the opening, making brief eye contact with the prisoner before walking away.**

**Ivan got up and picked up the tray. On it there was a mug of water, a pile of something yellow, a gooey-looking white lump, and a small piece of folded paper.**

**Ivan glanced around outside the cell, and sat quickly back down with the tray. Hastily he bent over the small bit of paper, on which were written four Russian words. On the bottom of the screen was provided the translation - Enjoy the potatoes!**

"That's not potatoes," Steve said, looking a bit sick.

That was saying something, the man having been in the army when everything was still boiled without seasoning. 

**Ivan hid away the note and hastily picked up the gooey white lump, which did not sag or fall apart in his hand as potatoes should do. He turned it over, and on the underside of the white lump was a very small screen with a red button and the number 35 flashing in red.**

"Well shit," Natasha muttered, having always wondered how the man got out and glad to have a front-row seat. 

**And then, almost the next moment, the guard had returned. This time he unlocked and opened the door, and another prisoner stepped inside, his long, disheveled hair partially obscuring his face. He looked confused.**

**Ivan looked had sharply up at the stranger - specifically, the number on his shirt above his breast pocket. The number was 6219. Then he took a quick look down at his own shirt - and the number above his pocket was exactly the same - 6219.**

**Understanding dawned on both the men's faces almost in tandem, but Ivan was quick as lightning. He slammed the other man's head into the wall and then on the "table"; the man collapsed and lay on the floor.**

"Damn," Clint whistled, he may hate the guy but he could see a good street fighter anywhere after his experiences. 

**The guard passed by yet a third time, and passed his hand over the shelf of the opening in the door. When his hand came down, a key had appeared there.**

**Ivan picked up the thing that was now obviously a small explosive and stuck it to the wall by means of the whitish putty all over it. He pressed the little red button, and the number began to count down. Then he grabbed the key, reached out through the opening, and quickly unlocked the door. He strode out into the hall, leaving the other unfortunate man lying on the floor.**

**The hallway down which Ivan now walked did seem quite deserted except for another guard, probably a real one. He called out sharply in French as Ivan passed, and the Russian paused.**

**The guard put his hand firmly on Ivan's shoulder, and Ivan waited just a moment before suddenly turning, wrapping one arm round the man's shoulders, punching him hard with his other hand, and snapping his neck. He then dropped him, and continued on his way.**

Steve looked seconds away from an aneurism from the indiscriminate killing, the reaction only making Tony laugh. The room looked at him like he was crazy but Thor and Bruce followed moments later after following his line of sight. When everything calmed down the movie started again. 

**And then, back in Ivan's cell, the explosive went off with a bang, and an alarm began blaring loudly.**

**But Ivan seemed did not seem notice at all. He pushed through a set of doors onto a staircase and began going down them at first, but then saw two more uniformed men at the gate, locking it securely and shouting to one another.**

**Ivan didn't wait to see if they weren't really guards - he turned and ran back up the stairs, only to be caught securely by two more uniformed men. One of them shoved a bag over his head, and they rushed him down the stairs. They turned a corner at the bottom and pushed him through what looked like a small back door. Then they tossed him into the back of a truck waiting outside and slammed the doors, and the screen went dark for a moment.**

**At that moment the screen lit up again as the doors of the truck opened onto the inside of a great garage (very pristine and clean-looking). At its far end was an obviously private white plane; but in the middle of it was a white-draped table and two chairs, one of which was occupied by a man. About half a dozen other men stood near the table in a line, like well-trained servants. Music that sounded like a string quartet came from some player they couldn't see.**

**As Ivan was escorted none too gently out of the truck by two tough-looking bodyguards and the uniformed infiltrator from the prison, the man at the table, who was obviously eating, stopped and spread wide his arms. "Hey, there he is, there he is!" Hammer said cheerfully, still obviously in the middle of a bite.**

"I fuckin hate that douchebag," Clint said darkly getting a chuckle from Tony, who was well aware of that particular feeling. 

**As the guards continued to walk Ivan forward, Justin Hammer got up from the table, napkin still tucked into his collar. "What an absolute pleasure!" he said. "Welcome. Oh, goodness gracious, can we get the handcuffs off my friend here?" He gestured to Ivan's hands with a reproachful look at the guards.**

**"Forgive me, I'm sorry," said Hammer to Ivan. "I'm such a huge fan of yours, I didn't want to make a first impression like this." And then to the man just finishing with the cuffs, "He's not an animal, he's a human being. Thank you."**

**Then the guard asked Hammer something in French, and Hammer answered briefly. The man questioned him again rather doubtfully, but Hammer brushed him off with a dismissive gesture and an "Oui, oui, we're fine."**

"He's a dumbass. It's no wonder Ivan got one over him," Natasha said, sounding more like she was voicing her thoughts rather than meaning to say it out loud.

That got Steve off his high horse for a moment, Tony immediately sending the assassin a grateful nod. 

**All three men walked off, clearly not very happy, but their employer had already turned to Ivan again. "My name is Justin Hammer," he said, holding out his hand which Ivan briefly shook. "I'd like to do some business with you. Please, sit!" He resumed his chair, and Ivan sat down across from him.**

**"Dig in!" said Hammer welcomingly, and one of the suit-clad servants who had been standing off to the side now approached the table.**

**"What do we have today, Jack?" asked Hammer as the man set a plate with a gold, dome-shaped cover before Ivan.**

**"Ah, we have some salmon carpaccio," said Jack.**

**"Salmon carpaccio, mm-mm!" said Hammer happily as Jack lifted the cover of the dish to reveal a delicious-looking filet of salmon. "Anything you want here, we got it," he added to Ivan, who was looking around and at the table like he had never seen such luxury in his life (which was very likely true).**

"So fucking pretentious," Rhodey said before flinching immediately along with Tony, the both of them ignoring the memories that word brought up. 

Most of the team looked confused but several seemed to think they already knew, they didn't.

**"I like to have my dessert first," said Hammer, picking up a spoon and scooping from a dish of what looked like vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup and whipped cream with a cherry on top. "I had this flown in from San Francisco - it's Italian, though." He popped a spoonful into his mouth. "Organic ice cream. I've got a sweet tooth."**

**Another white-gloved servant unfolded a white cloth napkin with a flourish and laid it in Ivan's lap, while a third had appeared to take one of three glasses in front of Ivan that were almost certainly of real crystal.**

**"Apparently you do too," Hammer went on. "for Tony Stark." He leaned forward. "What I saw you do to Tony Stark on that track - how you stood up to him in front of God and everybody, that was - wow!" He spread his hands as though Ivan had done some very awe-inspiring thing.**

"Oh my God," Clint facepalmed, not being able to handle the man even through a screen. 

Bruce and Tony just helplessly laughed, only chuckling harder when Clint joined in. 

**A fourth white-gloved servant was pouring red wine into one of Ivan's remaining glasses. It was an unusual sight - Ivan, in prison scrubs, his dark hair sprinkled with grey, and most of his visible flesh covered in tattoos, being served with crystal and gold and dining on fine white linen.**

**"You spoke to me with what you did," said Hammer, pointing at Ivan. "And I know that you knew I'd be listening." He pointed back toward himself. "This is why I couldn't bear to have you shipped off to have you shipped off to God-knows-where, it would've been such a waste of talent. But if I may make a suggestion, you know -" His brow furrowed, as if he were saying Something Supremely Enlightening. "- you don't just go and try to kill the guy. I think - if I may - you go after his legacy, that's what you kill."**

**Ivan seemed by now to be focused on Hammer, and he watched him keenly.**

**"You and me, we're a lot alike in a lot of ways," said Hammer wisely, gesturing between Ivan and himself.**

Most of the people in the room snorted of scoffed, knowing enough about the man to know that that statement was never going to go anywhere good. 

**Ivan's eyebrow lifted at this.**

**"The only difference between you and I," Hammer went on. "is that I have resources. I think - if I may - you need those resources. Someone behind you, a benefactor. I'd like to be that guy."**

**And Ivan laughed, rather mockingly, and spoke in Russian.**

Tony, Bruce, Thor, and Natasha all started laughing, the billionaire spitting out the water he had just taken a spit of before chocking over his hilarity. 

"What did he say?" Steve demanded, seemingly pissed at being left out.

"In polite terms? You talk too much." Natasha said, purposefully acting like a delicate flower so that he would back off.

Tony just smirked in amusement, promising to add that move to his tactics later, as the super-soldier instantly calmed himself. 

**Hammer blinked. "Okay," he said, obviously confused and a bit miffed. "Do you speak English? Because I can get a translator. I don't know - have you been understanding everything I'm saying?"**

**"Very good man," said Ivan in English, still smirking.**

**"Very good man!" said Justin with obvious relief, and he laughed.**

**"Very good man," Ivan repeated, chuckling with the same missed mockery as before.**

The entire room burst out laughing, amazed at the Russian's balls yet so glad for them. 

**"Hey!" said Justin, and he raised a glass of vodka. "Eh?" he asked, and Ivan picked up the bottle which held all the rest, leaned forward, and touched it to the American's glass.**

**"Hey," said Ivan, catching Justin by the wrist just as he was sitting down, and suddenly he was all sincerity. "I want my bird."**

Wanda along with most of the room was stunned into silence at the abrupt change, Tony just silently cracking up as his eidetic memory reminded him of the bird from the beginning of the movie. 

**Hammer blinked again, obviously wondering if he'd missed something. "A bird," he said. "You . . . want a bird."**

**"I want my bird," Ivan repeated.**

**Hammer had obviously not understood. "I can get you a bird," he said. "I can get you ten birds."**

**Ivan's hands came down on the table. "I want my bird!" he said angrily.**

**"Uh, okay, nothing's impossible," said Hammer placatingly. "I could . . . are we talking about . . ." He still appeared to have missed the point. "This is a bird back in Russia?"**

"Oh my God," Clint and Natasha said at the same time, only the male facepalming like they both clearly wanted to.

The tension in the room popped, all of them laughing at Hammer's stupidity.

* * *

_Wow, this was a long one. Sorry for the delay, I've got some other things I'm working on thought. (roseriley0612@gmail.com) You can email me or comment if you have any pairings/prompts that you would like to see from me. Happy reading! -Rose_


	6. Happy Birthday

**In the lounge of Tony Stark's house by the sea, the room in fact that led down to the workshop, Pepper and Natasha were both obviously at work, each woman with a phone to her ear. "Yes," Pepper was saying. "But the fundamentals of the company are still very, very strong despite the events in Monaco."**

**"Yes. Yes, of course," said Natasha at the same time. She leaned forward to Pepper. "The AP wants a quote," she whispered.**

**"Don't tell him, fax them," Pepper whispered back.**

Tony's face went completely blank, he knew that the woman hadn't told him stuff before but he didn't realize that she had hidden things that stupidly small and then laughed about it. Bruce looked ready to take Tony away somewhere that he would never have to see Pepper ever again before reigning himself in and just bringing the smaller man in closer to his chest. Thor didn't really understand the exchange but moved closer to the couple anyways. 

**Just then Rhodey appeared in the lounge, looking distinctly frazzled. "Where is he?"**

**Both women twisted to look at him. "He doesn't want to be disturbed," said Natasha, but Pepper at once said, "He's downstairs."**

**Natasha gave a look that seemed to say, I'm not taking the heat for this one, and went straight back to her phone conversation.**

The Black Widow smirked like she was proud of herself, never seeing the way Pepper flinched at the glare she felt on her back. 

**On the wall in front of the two women were three televisions running at the same time. The middle one was of a news broadcast where a reporter was just saying, " . . . but his continuing erratic behavior may lead many people to ask themselves: 'can this man still protect us?'"**

**Rhodey's eye was drawn to the screen; and it did seem rather odd that just at that moment Pepper said, "Iron Man never stopped protecting us, the events in Monaco prove that."**

"Hypocrite," Tony muttered cruelly, pleased when Pepper flinched. 

**Downstairs in his workshop, Tony sat in one of his many cars staring at a large screen that was displaying all sorts of images of newspaper clippings, photographs, and information boxes. He was noticeably pale, and the deep rings around his eyes looked eerie in the low light of the screens.**

**"Query complete, sir," said the voice of JARVIS. "Anton Vanko was a Soviet physicist who defected to the United States in 1943. However, he was accused of espionage and was deported in 1967. His son Ivan, who is also a physicist, was convicted of selling Soviet-era weapons-grade plutonium to Pakistan, and served fifteen years in Kopeisk prison. No further records exist."**

"Well shit," Clint murmured, getting a much better idea of the man after hearing his file. 

**It was then that Rhodey keyed himself into the workshop and opened the door. "Tony," he said. "You gotta get upstairs and get on top of this situation right now. Listen," He came forward into the room. "I've been on the phone with the National Guard all day, trying to talk them out of rolling tanks up the PCH, knocking down your front door, and taking these." He pointed at the part of the wall where stood the little collection of Suits. "They're going to take your Suits, Tony, okay? They're getting sick of the games."**

Rhodey winced at himself, seeing the bigger picture too late to be anything other than a distant regret. 

**Tony sat motionless, staring dully up at the screen.**

**"You said nobody else would possess this technology for twenty years," said Rhodey. "Well, guess what - somebody else had it yesterday. It's not theoretical anymore."**

**Rhodey's brow creased with worry. "Are you okay?" he asked anxiously.**

**Tony seemed to rally himself, and clapped Rhodey's arm. "Let's go," he said, and he opened the car door and nearly fell as he tried to climb out.**

Bruce looked a little green around the edges, clenching Tony to him like he was scared the man was going to fall and die any moment now. 

**"Hey, hey!" said Rhodey, hurrying round to the other side of the car and pulling Tony up. "You all right?"**

**"Yeah - I should get to my desk," panted Tony, and Rhodey helped him to it.**

**"See that cigar box?" asked Tony.**

**"Yeah," said Rhodey.**

**"It's palladium," Tony huffed as Rhodey lowered him into the chair. Rhodey then opened the box, looking back to check on Tony as he did so. Looking decidedly unwell, Tony pulled the Arc Reactor from its socket in his chest and up came the depleted palladium core.**

**A small ring of smoke was billowing from around the core.**

"It is not supposed to be melted and smoking, right?" Wanda asked confused.

"It's absolutely not," Tony promised.

After taking a second look at the way Tony looked on the screen and the condition of the chip that had just come out of the arc reactor Wanda got a lot of a better idea of just how bad off Tony was. She looked to Natasha for guidance, not liking the way that the other woman just brushed her off. 

**"Is that supposed to be smoking?" asked Rhodey.**

**"If you must know, it's neutron damage," rasped Tony. "It's from the reactor wall." He handed Rhodey the reactor.**

**Rhodey gingerly pulled out the smoking core. "You had this in your body?" he asked wryly.**

**Tony turned away, and Rhodey caught a glimpse of the side of his throat. "And how about that high-tech crossword puzzle on your neck?" he asked, for the veins stood out far too sharply against the colorless flesh.**

**"Road rash," said Tony.**

The Colonel could see the lie for what it was now, the cry for help, and only felt so stupid that he didn't see his friend needed help. 

"Yup," Tony said in the face of Rhodey's realization, knowing that the man would understand. 

**Rhodey gave Tony an oh-yeah-right sort of look and handed him the Arc Reactor, having switched out the old core for a new one. Tony pushed it into its socket and twisted it till it clicked into position and its glow poked once again through his shirt. He picked up another bottle of chlorophyll, glancing back at Rhodey as he did so. Rhodey was watching him closely.**

**"What are you looking at?" he asked.**

**"I'm looking at you," said Rhodey truthfully. "You want to do this whole lone gunslinger act, and it's unnecessary. You don't have to do this alone."**

"And who was he supposed to ask for help? You? Who only seems to show up when the government asks you to? Pepper? Who made it abundantly clear that she wanted nothing to do with the suits?" Clint defended, to everyone's surprise.

Rhodey and Pepper just watched the screen, shame, and embarrassment filling them as the movie continued. 

**Tony looked up at him rather wistfully. "You know, I wish I could believe that," he said. "I really do. But you've gotta trust me. Contrary to popular belief, I know exactly what I'm doing."**

**Rhodey's gaze remained troubled.**

"Seriously? He's not a child that you are taking care of. He is a fully grown adult that owns a company and has finished his schooling. You can be concerned for him, hell, you can even be worried for him, but you're not and never have been or will be in charge of him." Clint started again, Natasha trying to shut him up half-way through and only getting a glare for her effort. 

Nobody in the room had anything to say for themselves, all of them having tried to control the billionaire some way or another, so they stayed silent in the only display of intelligence Tony had ever seen from them. 

**In Queens, New York, a black limousine pulled to a stop in front of a large building with the name HAMMER spelled across the top floor in huge letters.**

**"This is where we do it," said Justin Hammer as he led Ivan through his facility. "This is my humble abode. You can work in absolute peace. Must be kind of fun to be dead, right? No pressure. Ah, here we are!" He pointed up and to the side, and they got a look at the Suits. There was something about their shape and color that made them look very different from any of Tony's Suits, even though they were technically the same sort of device.**

**"I'm very excited," added Hammer as he walked with Ivan and an assistant up to the Suits. "They're combat-ready. I may have done a few miscalculations and rushed the prototype into production - sue me, I'm enthusiastic! Go ahead, take a look around."**

"Do you ever just want to slap someone? Like really bad?" Wanda asked idly, getting peels of surprised laughter for her trouble. 

**There were two rows of the Suits side by side, and on the floor, in between, there were a few monitors.**

**Ivan immediately put on a pair of glasses and walked up to a computer standing near the Suits, and began pecking away at once.**

**"Oh, you - you don't want to do that," said Hammer, hovering over Ivan and pointing even as a black box full of HTML code appeared on the blue screen. "You'll be able to access that as soon as we generate some encrypted passcodes." He turned to the assistant behind him. "Could you get some encrypted passcodes? Get some of those . . . encrypted passcodes, Jack . . ."**

**At this moment, the box of HTML disappeared and the Administrator login was entered into the authentication fields.**

Tony smirks at Hammer's expression, more than happy that someone put the asshole in his place, however subtly. 

**"Never mind," said Hammer. "I -"**

**All the computers in the facility unlocked themselves in tandem with the one Ivan was working on, and more boxes full of code began to appear.**

**"Wow. Okay, Good stuff." said Hammer.**

**Ivan said something in Russian.**

That gets laughter out of everyone who understood Russian, Steve looking about ready to step back onto his high horse before just deciding to be quiet. Tony wanted to pat his head and give him a cookie for the moment on intelligence he was displaying. 

**"Sorry?" asked Hammer.**

**"Software shit," said Ivan decisively before anybody had thought to ask.**

**"Uh-huh," said Hammer, blinking and raising his eyebrows. "Well, ah . . ." he laughed. "You're good. You really blasted in past the firewall there. Let me show you where you're going to be working primarily . . ."**

"Please stop touching my computers, you're better than me at coding and it hurts my fragile male ego," Tony whined, winking to Bruce when the man instantly spat out the water he had been drinking. 

**But Ivan had already walked up to the first of the Suits that were nearby, found a wheeled ladder, pulled it up to the Suit, and climbed up to look at it.**

**"Go ahead, take a look," said Hammer as Ivan began to examine the thing. "Get a good look at that. That's something, isn't it?"**

With the billionaire's comment in mind, the way Hammer was so out of sorts just made everyone crack up again. Fury's eyebrow even twitched, giving away his amusement. 

**Ivan appeared to be attempting to pry up the helmet as Hammer went on talking.**

**"You know, those are really just for show and tell," he said. "And they're about a hundred and twenty-five point seven million a pop, so -"**

**Snap! Up came the helmet, cables, and small metal parts dangling.**

"He so deserved that," Clint said with obvious relish, grinning wickedly at the giggles he got in response. 

**"Oh, gosh!" Hemmer rubbed his forehead. "Um . . . Jesus Christ . . ." He turned to the assistant and whispered, "Get somebody up here." Then he turned back to Ivan, who was looking the helmet over. "Uh, that's where the pilot goes," he said. "I'm kind of . . . having a tough time . . . finding volunteers - He chuckled uneasily as Ivan clapped the helmet back onto the Suit. "I'll take care of that, just leave it."**

"I wonder why," Rhodey muttered, just setting everyone off again.

**Ivan gave the helmet a tap to make it stay in place and turned round to look down at Hammer. "What d'you want them do?" he inquired.**

**"Well, long-term, I want them to put me in the Pentagon for the next twenty-five years," said Hammer, and he put his hands in his pockets as Ivan came down the ladder and up to him. "I want to make Iron Man look like an antique. I want to go to that Stark Expo, and I want to take a dump in Tony's front yard. You know what I'm talking about?"**

"What the hell?" Natasha asked, her genuine confusion making Tony swallow his snide comment in the sound of his amusement. 

**Ivan laughed. "I can do that, no problem," he said.**

**"Hey!" cried Hammer, brightening at once and clapping his hands. "Fabulous! I love it!" He turned to the assistant. "Hey, this is our guy!" he said, pointing to Ivan. "Didn't I tell you? I had a feeling!"**

Wanda and several others grimaced at the completely uninterested, and blasé look the assistant had. 

**And then, in Malibu, a long line of cars crawled slowly toward Tony's house.**

**Around the Arc Reactor glowing in Tony's chest, the veins that stood out were darker and more numerous and more spread out. Tony stood in front of a screen and looked at his palladium levels, now up to 89%.**

Bruce pulled Tony closer in between himself and Thor at the reminder of his poor health. The billionaire just squeezed their hands and watched with an impassive face. 

**Behind Tony, Natasha came into the room with a box in her hand. "Do you know which watch you'd like to wear tonight, Mr. Stark?" she asked.**

**Tony turned from in front of the mirror, they saw that he was standing in what was probably the room next to his bedroom, dressed in black pants and a red dress shirt, currently unbuttoned, clearly for something special. "I'll give them a look," he said.**

**Natasha set the box on the counter and then began to prepare Tony a drink.**

**"I should cancel the party, eh?" he said.**

**Natasha turned around with the glass in her hand. "Probably," she said, beginning to walk toward him.**

**Tony came to take the glass. "Cause it's, uh -"**

**"Ill-timed," Natasha encouraged.**

**"Right, sends the wrong message," Tony agreed.**

**"Inappropriate," said Natasha, looking at him intently.**

**Tony looked Natasha over as he took the drink as if she were a puzzle he was trying to solve.**

"You are absolutely not helping," Steve muttered to Natasha's surprise once she realized that he was talking to her.

"He was looking for a way out and instead of helping out you treated it like a game,"

Steve's moment of observation gave Tony a real shock, he knew that his masks were beyond awful towards to end but, for Steve to see through what little he had left, he must have been worse off than he thought. Pepper looked confused before her face took an ashamed edge, Rhodey joining her. 

**"Is that dirty enough for you?" she asked.**

**But Tony said, "Uh, gold face, the brown band - the Jeager, I'll give that a look."**

**Natasha smiled again and went back to the counter.**

**"Bring them over here," said Tony, putting down the glass and sitting down in a chair. Natasha came back with the box, now open.**

**"I'll take that," Tony held out his hands for it. "And you -"**

**Natasha passed him the box and perched herself on the arm of the chair he was sitting in. She brushed back her hair back over her shoulder and looked over his face for a second. Tony smiled vaguely.**

**Then Natasha picked up a makeup compact and began covering the still-fading bruises from the Monaco attack with a perfectly matched foundation.**

**"I gotta say, it's hard to get a read on you," said Tony after a pause. "Where are you from?"**

**"Legal," said Natasha, and she began to blend the foundation.**

**Tony hesitated again. Then he asked, "Can I ask you a question, hypothetically? Bit odd . . ." He rubbed at the top of the bridge of his nose, probably spoiling some of Natasha's work. "If this was your last party you were ever gonna have, how would you celebrate it?"**

**Natasha's mouth softened just ever so slightly. "I'd do whatever I wanted to do," she said. "With whomever, I wanted to do it with." And she got up and left the room.**

**Tony looked after her as if considering what she'd said, and finished his drink.**

"Why didn't you just cancel the damn thing!?" Pepper cried, not able to help herself anymore.

"Because I had already tried to tell both of you about the poisoning but it was clear that you didn't see me enough to notice something was wrong. I was either going to do something beyond stupid or drink until I forgot why I was in chronic pain," Tony didn't try to defend himself or his actions, just stated them how they were, and that got the most visible reaction. 

Pepper and Rhodey both looked uncomfortable and embarrassed, Natasha went blank-faced, and the rest of the room just watched on silently as the people around Tony realized the impact of their actions. 

**And the next thing they knew, a red-and-gold plated arm was reaching over the DJ station and a red-plated finger was trying to hit a sloppy dubstep beat. Tony, dressed in his red-and-gold Suit and obviously drunk out of his mind, was throwing a party as only he could - loud dance music, plenty well-dressed guests (rather scantily dressed in the case of the women), and of course, plenty to drink.**

**Pepper came into the room and pulled up short, obviously dumbfounded, as Tony staggered slightly and bumped fists with the DJ (who discreetly winced and shook his hand).**

**Outside the house, Rhodey pulled up and parked with a cell phone to his ear. "Yes, sir, I understand," he said. "No, no, sir, what will not be necessary, I'll handle it. Sir, I personally guarantee that within twenty-four hours, Iron Man will be back on watch."**

Clint cleared his throat, finally having an opportunity to prove his point before Natasha just shook her head. He stopped talking, knowing from experience that that look meant it was only going to get worse. 

**Rhodey came into the house and saw some of the party guests sipping from their glasses. Then he ran into Pepper, who was just walking out.**

**"Hey, Pepper," he hailed her.**

**"I'm going to go get some air," said Pepper stonily.**

**"What's wrong?" asked Rhodey.**

**"I don't know what to do," Pepper confessed, pulling Rhodey into the next room where the real party was going on.**

**"You gotta be kidding me," said Rhodey in dismay.**

**Tony was staggering across the dais just in front of the DJ station with a microphone in one hand and a wine bottle in the other. As Rhodey and Pepper watched, he slipped sideways and fell into a small glass wine cabinet on the adjacent wall. He straightened himself up almost at once and held up his microphone hand in victory.**

**"That's it," said Rhodey in disgust, turning to go. "I'm making -"**

**"No, no, no, don't call anyone!" pleaded Pepper, tugging on his jacket.**

"Your first reaction is to call someone from the government!?" Clint asked, absolutely astonished at the complete lack of empathy for his friend that was clearly losing his mind. 

Rhodey refused to make eye contact with anyone in the room, just staring at the screen until the movie started again. 

**"Pepper," snapped Rhodey. "This is ridiculous. I just stuck my neck out for this guy!" He pointed at Tony.**

**"I know, I know," Pepper was saying. "I'll get it, I'll handle it."**

**"Handle it," said Rhodey. "Or I'm going to have to."**

**Tony was now standing up again on the dais. "You know," he slurred. "The question I get asked most often is, 'Tony, how do you go to the bathroom in this Suit?'"**

**He paused, leaned slightly forward for a few seconds (somehow not falling over), and then straightened again with a satisfied smile. "Just like that!" he announced.**

"Oh my god. Did you really-?" Wanda asked, hand up to her mouth in disgust.

"No, there wasn't a filter in the suit I was just playing the crowd," Tony answered, most of the people who were there getting a constipated look as they realized he hadn't been as drunk as he pretended. 

**Tony laughed drunkenly along with the crowd, bending over as Pepper climbed up onto the dais beside him with a smile plastered onto her face and took the microphone.**

**"Does this guy know how to throw a party or what?" said Pepper into the microphone.**

**The crowd cheered wildly and Tony attempted to straighten again and salute them. Then he bent over again, this time in Pepper's direction. "I love you!" he slurred.**

**"Unbelievable . . ." Pepper managed an obviously false laugh. "Thank you so much, Tony, we all thank you so much for such a wonderful night. And we're going to say good night now, and thank you all for coming -"**

**"Aw!" cried all the guests while Rhodey looked on with folded arms.**

**"Oh, no, no, no!" protested Tony as best he could. "We can't, uhh, wait-wait-wait, we didn't have the- the-the cake, we didn't blow out the candles -"**

**Pepper pulled down the microphone so that no one (except the unfortunate DJ) could hear him. "You're out of control, okay?" she said.**

"He's still your boss, even if he's dying and got drunk to try and forget," Nick pointed out, trying to understand why someone as ambitious as Pepper is would be willing to risk their job by not seeing the whole situation.

Pepper joined Rhodey in refusing to make eye contact, going slightly pink. 

**"I'm out of control?" Tony repeated dizzily. "You're out of control, gorgeous -"**

**"It's time to go to bed," Pepper went on. "It's time."**

**Tony was actually leaning down toward Pepper, reeking of alcohol, pleading, "Give me another smooch."**

**"You're not going to be happy about this," said Pepper, leaning away.**

**"Come on, you know you want to," said Tony.**

**"You just peed the Suit, okay?" Pepper reminded him, obviously not having any of it.**

Tony smirked, remembering how it had felt that night when he knew that she was just giving excuses. 

**"I know, it has a filtration system -"**

**"- it's not sexy."**

**"- you could drink that water."**

Steve grimaced at the thought, Wanda picking it up and almost gagging. 

**Pepper sighed. "Just send everybody home, okay?" she said. "It's time to -"**

**"If you say so," said Tony, falsely meek as he gained a bit of sobriety.**

**"Okay," said Pepper. "I'll take this," she took the bottle from him. "You take that," she handed him the microphone.**

Most of the room winced at that, seeing how similar the way she was treating Tony was to how you would treat a baby and wondering why the billionaire kept her as CEO. 

**"Pepper Potts," said Tony into the microphone as if he were announcing her, and there was some scattered applause. "She's right," Tony went on. "The party's over. Then again, the party was over for me, like, an hour and a half ago. The after-party starts in fifteen minutes!"**

**Pepper shut her eyes briefly, but Rhodey just looked on.**

The entire room was silent, the tension between Pepper, Rhodey, and Tony telling them that it wasn't going to get better. 

**"And if anybody - Pepper - doesn't like it," added Tony, jerking his head in the opposite direction of where she was standing. "There's the door!" And before anyone could react, he lifted his free hand and blasted out the pane of glass behind him with his hand ray, making everybody standing nearby (including Pepper) duck hastily out of the way to avoid the shower of glass.**

**And the partygoers screeched their approval as Tony bent his knees and roared "YEAH!"**

**Pepper's eyes met Rhodey's, and she saw his face harden.**

**"Pull!" said Tony, and one of the girls in the front row tossed a wine bottle into the air. Tony lifted his hand and blasted it mid-fall with his hand ray.**

**Pepper cringed, but everybody else was screaming and laughing, probably just as drunk as Tony.**

**Rhodey turned and strode out of sight.**

"That wasn't a red flag?" Clint asked in his shock, not feeling any better at the way Rhodey just cringed. 

**"Pull!" said Tony again, and another wine bottle sailed into the air, and again he blasted it mid-fall.**

**Rhodey marched down the stairs to Tony's workshop and keyed himself in. His eye at once fell upon the three Suits on the wall.**

"Oh you didn't," Steve muttered, his little knowledge of Tony telling him how the billionaire would feel about someone using his suits. 

**Tony's head was turned away from the crowd now and he was looking into a mirror. "Pull!" he said, and someone threw yet another bottle into the air. He blasted that one as well. "Yeah!" he roared.**

**Then they saw the boots snapping into place around Rhodey's feet, and silver plates fastening around his legs.**

**In the room where the 'after-party' was going on, a girl picked up a watermelon and jumped up and down with it, shouting, "Over here!"**

**"Think she wants the Gallagher!" cried Tony, and this time it was his chest ray, right above the Arc Reactor, that blasted the watermelon apart, showering the girl and anyone around her with watermelon fragments.**

Most of the room looked a little overwhelmed at everything that way going on, pulling themselves together in time to realize the magnitude of the way Rhodey was breaking Tony's trust.

**And then, in the middle of all the baying of the guests and Tony's attempts at dancing came the voice, not of Rhodey, but of Lieutenant-Colonel James Rhodes.**

**"I'm only going to say this once," he said from the top of the stairs of the workshop, gleaming in the silver of Tony's Mk II, his face uncovered because the mask was still up. "Get out!" And down came the mask with a metallic clang.**

"How was he able to get into the suit?" Nick asked, the answer he had gotten from Natasha at the donut shop no longer making sense. 

"I made it for him. It was done to his measurements with his information as the key... What I left to him in my will," Tony said, getting quieter as he continued speaking.

Everyone was completely silent, Rhodey and Pepper looking horrified as they just barely started to understand the implication of what they did that night. 

**All the guests fled without a moment's delay.**

**Tony stared rather blankly at Rhodey, clearly unable to process how far his 'friend' was willing to go, as the other man strode forward into the suddenly empty room.**

**"You don't deserve to wear one of these!" barked Rhodey, pointing to the Suit Tony was wearing. "Shut it down!"**

**Tony turned back to the DJ station. "Goldstein?" he said into the microphone, which he was still holding.**

**The head of the poor DJ popped up from behind his station. "Yes, Mr. Stark?" he said warily.**

**"Give me a phat beat to beat my buddy's ass to," said Tony, but he burst into another fit of strained laughter as he spoke. It didn't reach his eyes through the betrayal and fury.**

Bruce and Thor just held Tony, rubbing his shoulders and back until he stopped tensing so much as they watched a several decade long friendship burn. 

**Rhodey marched up behind Tony and clamped his arm around the red and gold shoulder. "I told you to shut it down," he snapped.**

**Tony smiled, lowered his own mask, grabbed Rhodey's arm, and blasted backward with him. Together they sailed through an open doorway into a carpeted room, through a glass wall on its other side, and into the gym just next to the boxing ring.**

**Rhodey landed hard on his side, but Tony righted himself almost at once (quite a feat, considering how drunk he'd seemed earlier) with a bit of help from his flight rays.**

**Tony turned and strode away from Rhodey. "Now," he said as he went. "Put that thing back where you found it before someone gets hurt."**

**The removable cylinder of a weightlifting dumbbell bonked off the back of Tony's helmet.**

**Tony had turned round to find Rhodey just about to toss the other cylinder at him. He ducked sideways, and the cylinder crashed into what appeared to be a shower stall.**

**"Really?" said Tony. He walked up and grabbed another dumbbell, shaking one cylinder off the end. He slammed Rhodey with it.**

**Rhodey went flying across the boxing ring, knocking down the ropes and posts, and landed on his back on the floor.**

**"Sorry, pal," said Tony as he lowered himself toward his old friend. "but Iron Man doesn't have a sidekick."**

**"Sidekick - this!" Rhodey grabbed one of the posts that had fallen off the boxing ring and slammed Tony with it once for every word.**

**The Colonel would have slammed Tony a fourth time, but Tony caught the other end of the post. Rhodey tried to knock Tony over with a kick; Tony's left knee drove into the floor so hard it buckled slightly. Then Rhodey tilted down his end of the post, and Tony crashed up through the ceiling to the second level, and from there clear up to the gong at the top. He fell back to the floor, probably a bit dazed.**

"You were giving him a crash course," Bruce realized with horror, terrified that the billionaire had really been that far gone.

Tony's wince at Bruce's look of realization was all that Rhodey needed to run to the sink and throw up. 

Everything was quiet for a long moment before Rhodey turned on the sink and washed out his mouth. He walked slowly back to his seat with a glass of water and resolutely looked at the screen. 

**"Had enough?" asked Rhodey as he flew up through the new hole in the floor.**

**"Natalie!" barked Pepper as she stalked through the front room which opened onto the street.**

**"Miss Potts -" began Natasha, appearing magically in front of Pepper.**

**"Don't you 'Miss Potts' me!" that lady shouted, her finger leveled like a drawn dagger at the other woman. "I'm onto you! You know what? Ever since you came here, I -"**

"That was never going to be her fault," Clint muttered. 

**But at this moment Tony and Rhodey came crashing down through the ceiling and into the room not teen feet from Pepper and Natasha. Pepper gave a cry.**

**Happy shot into the room like a bolt of lightning. "Pepper!" he cried, barreling over to her as she stood frozen with shock and dangerously near the still-fighting Tony and Rhodey (Tony had just picked Rhodey up and slammed him back down into the floor).**

**"Get out of here, get out of here!" cried Happy, shoving Pepper outside to safety. Natasha appeared to be leaving another way; blue light shone onto her face as she cast a quick look over her shoulder.**

**All the guests were gathered outside the house near the front door (which was entirely made of glass) watching Tony and Rhodey.**

**"You want it? Take it!" barked Tony, and flung Rhodey across the floor. He advanced as Rhodey climbed to his feet, and punched the side of his helmet with one hand. He followed it up with the other hand, but Rhodey jumped aside and Tony staggered forward.**

**Rhodey rocked back on his heels and drew his hands up under his chin as if he were boxing as Tony pulled himself up and whirled back around. Tony punched the side of Rhodey's helmet; Rhodey responded by punching Tony's helmet. Tony punched Rhodey's helmet again. Tony punched Rhodey's helmet again. Tony punched Rhodey's helmet a third time, and this time when Rhodey swung for him he grabbed his arm and flipped him forward into a table.**

**Then he straightened up, and his viewfinder fell upon the small crowd gathered outside. He gave a furious roar, and they screamed and fled for their cars.**

"That's one way to get rid of unwanted guests," Nick commented, a bit of the tension breaking under the normally stoic man's words. 

**Rhodey got up, picked up a piece of the table his Suit had smashed through and slammed Tony with it as hard as he could. Tony sailed across the room headfirst into a decorative fireplace.**

**Tony pulled his head and shoulders from the flames and turned around. At the other end of the room, Rhodey stood waiting.**

**Then Tony raised his hand.**

**Rhodey raised his own hand. "Put your hand down," he pleaded.**

**"You think you've got what it takes to wear that Suit?" asked Tony coldly, his eyes having gained most of their sobriety to go along with the betrayal of his friend stealing from him.**

**"We don't have to do this, Tony," said Rhodey.**

"Usually when your friend is emotional you don't beat them to a bloody pulp," Steve muttered, more thankful than ever that he knew Bucky was alive. 

**"You want to be the War Machine, take your shot," snapped Tony.**

**"Put it down!" barked Rhodey.**

**"You gonna take the shot?" demanded Tony as his hand ray powered up.**

**"Put it down!" shouted Rhodey.**

**"No!"**

**"Drop it, Tony!"**

**And at the same instant, Tony said, "Take it!"**

**And then, at almost the same instant, Tony took the shot and Rhodey blocked it, their hand rays meeting in midair. The force of the two beams of energy was so great that all the glass on that level of the house shattered, and anything lighter than a marble countertop was blown outside.**

**There was a brief glimpse of the house from a distance.**

**Then, in the ruins of the first floor, Tony lay against the wall where he had fallen, not moving for a long while, though the Arc Reactor was still glowing.**

**Tony lifted his head, and his dark "eyeholes" lit up as he looked around...**

**Rhodey, still in the other Suit, was just approaching the far end of the house. He paused and turned to look back at Tony.**

**Tony looked on and did not move.**

**Rhodey straightened his arms and lifted his head, and flew away into the night.**

**Tony watched and did not pursue him.**

"After all that you took it? Damn, that's cold," Nick questioned, the Avengers all in shock at seeing what they saw and most who had been there getting a forceful reevaluation of events. 

**And then, as the view shifted to one of the Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert, Rhodey's voice echoed over military loudspeakers. "Edwards Tower, this is Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes, inbound from three miles east at 5,000 feet . . ."**

**In the Air Traffic Control room at the top of a tower, Major Allen (whom they all remembered) was standing with a number of cadets. He and the others all squinted or help up binoculars, no doubt looking out for Rhodey's plane. Then a silver blur shot past the tower.**

**On the ground, a small crowd quickly gathered to look up as Rhodey began to descend. His viewfinder picked out all the men of rank and listed their credentials. He landed gently on his feet, managing to power his flight rays down at exactly the right instant, and flipped up the mask of the helmet.**

**"Colonel?" asked Major Allen, quickly coming to the forefront of the cluster of people quickly surrounding the shining silver Suit.**

**"Major," returned Rhodey respectfully, but with no great enthusiasm.**

**"Wow!" murmured the major, his eyes dropping to the Arc Reactor in the middle of the Suit.**

**"Yeah," said Rhodey, glancing down and then back up at his colleagues. "Let's take it inside."**

**"Clear the area," called Major Allen, and the crowd dispersed, a number of them following him and Rhodey into the nearest building as the screen went dark.**

Nobody was able to speak through the absolute, appalled disgust they all felt coursing through them. 

**But almost at once, more music began playing, and in another moment, Tony Stark was wearing sunglasses and eating from a box of doughnuts in the early morning sunlight. He was still wearing the Suit, with the exception of the helmet, which was sitting beside him. The sky was all orange and pink in mid-sunrise.**

**Tony was actually sitting inside a large doughnut-shaped sign on top of a small restaurant called RANDY'S DONUTS.**

**"Sir!" called an all-too-familiar voice from the ground as an all-too-familiar figure in a black trenchcoat tilted its head up to look at the obnoxious doughnut eater. "I'm going to have to ask you to exit the doughnut!"**

**Tony looked down at Nick Fury over his sunglasses in obvious surprise. Fury turned and walked toward the door of the shop.**

"Well shit," Clint muttered, trying to smother his laughter at his boss's comment.

Tony didn't even try, finding it just as funny as the first time and being able to show it the second. 

**"I told you, I don't want to join your super-secret boy band," said Tony as he sat slumped in a booth inside the shop, which seemed quite empty, with a coffee cup in front of him.**

**Across from him, Fury chuckled. "Nah, nah, nah, see, I remember," he said. "you do everything yourself. How's that workin' out for ya?" He took a sip of coffee.**

**"It's - it's - it's -" Tony seemed rather out of it, only his partners seeing the mischievous look in his eye as he faked being way more hungover than he was. He picked up his coffee cup and put it back down. "I'm sorry, I don't wanna get off on the wrong foot - do I look at the patch or the eye?"**

Tony smirked, congratulating himself at outwitting the older man as Bruce squeezed him.

**Fury's smirk did not lessen.**

**"Honestly, I'm a bit hungover," said Tony. "I'm not sure if you're real, or if I'm having a weird delusion -"**

**Fury leaned forward across the table. "I am very real," he said. "I'm the realest person you're ever gonna meet."**

The spies just looked at Nick in wonder, having seen similar lines in movies about mob bosses. 

**"Just my luck," Tony muttered, and then turning to look around the little restaurant, "Where's the staff here?"**

**But in turning he purposefully gave Fury a prime view of the side of his neck, with its milk-pale flesh and alarming veins.**

**"That's not looking so good," said Fury, examining the sight closely.**

**"I've been worse," grumbled Tony, but at this moment a third party - that is, a set of hips - entered the scene. The hips looked like a woman's and were snugly clad in black. There was a holster strapped to the left thigh and a belt around the proportionally narrow waist.**

**"We've secured the perimeter, but I don't think we should hold it for too much longer," said the voice of Natasha, and there she was standing in front of their booth. She was all in black, clearly in SHIELD attire.**

Natasha winced, seeing the way that she really acted for what it was and not just what she thought it was for the first time. 

"You knew that I worked for someone but you didn't know the full extent," She said the second she realized.

Tony just winced as he remembered the feeling of being stabbed by someone he thought was his friend. 

**Tony gazed at her over his sunglasses, looking completely flummoxed but in reality, beyond pissed off. "Huh," he said.**

**Fury was now grinning at Tony for his response.**

**Tony usually would have had a smart retort in seconds, but he kept his hungover and oblivious mask until all he seemed capable of uttering at the moment was a mumbled, "You're - fired," that fell rather flat.**

**"That's not up to you," said Natasha, and slid into the booth beside Fury.**

"Was I always that arrogant?" The spy asked in shock, Clint nodding in agreement before flinching at the implication of what he had just done.

That got the point across better than any words could have. 

**"Tony," said Fury, laying a hand on each of Natasha's shoulders. "I want you to meet Agent Romanoff."**

**"Hi," said Tony, taking off his sunglasses and rubbing his eyes.**

**"I'm a SHIELD shadow," said Natasha crisply. "Once we knew you were ill, I was tasked to you by Director Fury."**

**"I suggest you apologize," said Tony.**

**Fury ignored Tony. He leaned forward again. "You've been very busy," he said. "You made your girl your CEO, you're giving away all your stuff - you let your friend fly away with your Suit!" He raised an inquiring forefinger while Natasha smirked. "Now, if I didn't know better -"**

**"You don't know better," snapped Tony. "I didn't give it to him, he took it."**

**"Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Fury. "what now - he just took it? You're Iron Man, and he just took it? The lil' brotha walked in there, kicked yo' ass, and took yo' Suit?" He turned to Natasha. "Is that possible?"**

Nick winced at his words now that he knew the truth, most of the room joining him. 

**"Well according to Mr. Stark's database security guidelines there are redundancies to prevent unauthorized usage," Natasha said smoothly and not a little smugly.**

**Fury looked back at Tony inquiringly.**

**Tony looked from Fury to Natasha. "What do you want from me?" he asked at length.**

**"What do we want from you? No, uh-uh," Fury shook his head. "What do you want from me?"**

**At this point Natasha got up and walked off, leaving Tony and Fury at the table.**

**"You have become a problem," said Fury. "A problem I have to deal with. Contrary to your belief, you are not the center of my universe -"**

**"Yeah, I get it," Tony acknowledged.**

**"- I have bigger problems than you in the southwest region to deal with," Fury went on, and he snapped his fingers at Natasha, who had reappeared. "Hit him."**

**Natasha pushed a syringe straight into his neck with a snap.**

Clint was completely shocked that his friend would ever do that to someone, Wanda feeling more confused than she had in a while while the rest of the room just watched on stoically, hiding their true feelings. 

**"Oh, God!" squawked Tony, starting violently and trying to twist away as Natasha somewhat forcibly turned his head so she could look at his neck. "Are you gonna steal my kidney and sell it?! Could you please not do anything awful - for five seconds -"**

**But now the veins were fading away, and a flush of normal color had returned to his skin.**

**Tony must have felt a difference immediately, for he looked back at Fury in fake alarm. "What'd she just do to me?"**

**"What did we just do for you?" amended Fury. "That's lithium dioxide. It's gonna take the edge off. We're trying to get you back to work."**

"You already knew about lithium dioxide," Fury realized.

"I didn't want to use it because it was just going to prolong the inevitable,"

Bruce and Thor just held the smaller man closer. 

**Tony rolled his eyes over at Natasha, whom he'd clearly not forgiven yet. "Give me a couple of boxes of that, I'll be right as rain," he said.**

**"It's not a cure," said Natasha. "It just abates the symptoms."**

**"Doesn't look like it's gonna be an easy fix," said Fury, looking keenly at Tony.**

**Tony looked back at Fury, and an edge crept into his voice as he spoke. "Trust me, I know, I'm good at this stuff. I've been looking for a suitable replacement for palladium. I've tried every combination, every permutation of every known element."**

**But Fury said, "Well, I'm here to tell you - you haven't tried them all."**

"Can you be more cryptic?" Clint asked "Sir," He hastily added. 

Finally, the tension broke, most everyone laughing to some level of hysterical.

* * *

_Sorry for the wait, comments and prompts/pairing are always welcome. -Rose_


	7. Howard

**"Hey, hey, hey!" Justin Hammer came striding into his facility. "Special delivery - candygram!" Behind him walked his assistant Jack, holding something roughly rectangular covered in cloth.**

"Oh my god, why?" Clint muttered, visibly debating leaving the room to avoid the man's voice.

Tony just laughed helplessly. 

**Ivan, who was up on a high metal structure working at the helmet of one of the Suits (which actually did not look very like a helmet), climbed down to see the special delivery.**

**"I brought you something," said Hammer as Ivan came up to him and Jack. He grinned as the man set down the cloth-covered thing. "Oh, yeah!"**

**Jack took up the cloth cover to reveal a smallish cage, inside which was perched a white bird.**

**"We got you the bird, pal!" said Hammer, his assistant smiling dutifully.**

"That isn't the right bird..." Rhodey realized after a couple of seconds.

Bruce, Thor, and Tony were already laughing at the idea of what Ivan might do in retaliation. 

**"This is not my bird," said Ivan after one look at the little creature.**

**"What do you mean?" blinked Hammer. "That's the bird!" He turned to the other man for help. "This is the bird, yeah! Pulled a lot of strings to get this bird. This is a great bird!"**

**"It's a beautiful bird," said the other man helpfully.**

"Why is he even talking?" Natasha wondered out loud, getting laughs from most of the room. 

**"We got this bird all the way from Russia!" Hammer went on.**

"I can't wait to see how this turns out for the douchebag," Rhodey said vindictively, getting a hum of agreement from Tony. 

**"Hey, man," Ivan slammed his hand down on the cage, startling the unfortunate bird inside very much, and glaring balefully at Hammer. "This is not my bird."**

**Hammer put his hands in his pockets and looked as if he'd just been royally insulted. "Well, listen," he said. "even if it's not the bird, I mean, this is a gorgeous bird! I mean, you know . . . look, don't get so attached to things, learn to let go!"**

"Did he seriously think that that was going to work?" Wanda asked, Tony and Rhodey only laughing harder at her genuine confusion.

Most of the room already had aching sides and Nick was smiling for real. 

**The little bird hopped a bit, and cawed.**

**Just then Hammer caught sight of the Suit Ivan had been working at. "Wait a minute," he said, craning his neck. "Jack, what is that?"**

**Hammer was looking at the top of the Suit - which was undoubtedly not a helmet for a man to wear. It looked like the head of a robot. "Is that . . . that's not a helmet, what is that?" He jogged over to the structure around the Suit and climbed up.**

**Ivan ignored him, already beginning to make friends with the new bird.**

**Hammer lifted the apparatus out of the Suit and looked at it. "Um, Ivan," he said. "What's this? Jack -" he came and handed the thing down to his assistant. "- is that a helmet? Doesn't look like a helmet to me." He climbed down the stairs again and came back up to Ivan. "How're you supposed to get a head in there?" He turned back to Jack, who was still holding and looking over the not-helmet. "Jack, could you put your head in there?"**

**"No," said the man truthfully.**

**"Try to put your head in there," Hammer insisted.**

"I thank God that I am physically incapable of being that stupidly obvious," Tony muttered to Bruce.

**"No, it's no use -" began the unfortunate man, looking over the thing.**

**"Go ahead, try to put your head in there," repeated Hammer.**

**"It's -" The man put the apparatus on top of his head; it was obviously too small and not the right shape for a man's head, and thus the head of poor Jack could not fit inside.**

**"See, Ivan, he can't put his head in there," said Hammer, turning to Ivan and pointing over his shoulder at Jack, who was quietly holding the drone-head. "That's - that's not a helmet, it's a head." Hammer pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose with an air of being put upon.**

**Ivan finally turned his head rather reluctantly as Hammer's voice went on. "I need to put a guy in there, I need to fit a person in that, that Suit, you understand?"**

Rhodey, Natasha, and Fury wouldn't stop smirking, Tony and Bruce held themselves together much better but it was still obvious that they were amused. 

**"Drone better," said Ivan briefly.**

"He's gone back to pretending that he can't speak much English," Natasha gasped out between chuckles, getting the rest of the room to laugh with her. 

**"Wha - drone better? Why is drone better?" Hammer was clearly not happy with Ivan's work. He turned to Jack. "Why is drone better?"**

**"People make problem," said Ivan with a significant quirk of his eyebrow at Hammer. "Trust me - drone better."**

**Hammer rubbed his neck. "Ivan, you know, I like you," he said patiently. "I got you the bird -" he gestured to the cage. "- um, you said no problem!" - accusingly. "That's what you said to me. You said no problem. Now I need Suits. The government wants Suits. Like Iron Man, you understand? That's what the people want! That's what's gonna make 'em happy."**

Tony was seconds away from literally face-palming, Bruce already preemptively holding his hands hostage. The billionaire just pouted and was about to start ranting until Thor kissed him quiet.

**Ivan finally straightened up from the table where sat his new little friend and walked up to Hammer with a little mocking smile. "Hey, man," he said. "Don't get too attached to things. Learn to let go." And he took the drone-head and put it down.**

That got the room to crack up again, Fury even sniggering a bit.

**Hammer scowled and leaned forward in an attempt to look intimidating. "These drones better steal the show, Ivan!" he said angrily, and he began to walk away, Jack trailing after him. "You understand? Better rock my world, Ivan!"**

**Ivan gave a slight shake of his head as the two Americans walked off.**

**At the Edwards Air Force Base, inside the main building, Rhodey pulled open a large sliding door. Beside him stood the man who was obviously his superior, probably a general.**

Any lingering amusement was quickly flushed out of the room. 

**"Unbelievable," said the general, staring in wonder at the shining silver of the Suit. Its Arc Reactor was hooked up to a powerful generator by several cords. "This ought to get the Senate off my ass," he added. "It's functional?"**

**"Fully mission-capable," Rhodey promised flatly.**

**"Good!" said the general, smiling and turning to walk away. "Get Hammer down here to weaponize it."**

"Wow... Just wow," Bruce muttered, his benign smile getting an edge at how utterly stupid Rhodey was acting. 

Rhodey refused to make eye contact with anyone in the room while Pepper tried to placate him. 

**Rhodey's eyes widened, and he cast the Suit a look of alarm before hurrying after the general. "Sir?" he asked sharply.**

**"Justin Hammer's making a weapons presentation at the Stark Expo. We'd like this to introduce it." The general pointed back over his shoulder at the Suit.**

**"Sir," said Rhodey, obviously regretting his choice. "I don't believe that the Expo is -"**

**The general turned and held up a hand. "Colonel, the world needs to see this fast," he insisted. "We've got to make this happen."**

**"Yes, General," said Rhodey with a respectful nod. "But the -"**

**"It's also an order," said the general with a smile that means the conversation is finished.**

**"Yes, sir," said Rhodey.**

**"Good work, Colonel!" said the general with a salute that Rhodey matched. "You've made your country proud."**

**"Thank you, sir," said Rhodey, but his gaze at the general's retreating back was full of doubts.**

"It only took betraying your dying friend to make it happen," Clint said, enjoying the way Rhodey's skin went pink. 

"Look, it was a long time ago. Nobody cares about what happened then anymore and you weren't even involved in the first place. I don't get why everyone's making such a big deal of it," Pepper ranted in Rhodey's defense, never seeing the man trying to cut her off.

"You're completely right. What's a couple million dollars of a friend's stollen technology years later?" Tony mocked, satisfied when the redhead instantly colored and backed off, Rhodey just wincing at the blow. 

**In the ruins of the first floor of Tony's house by the sea, Tony and Fury sat in two chairs in what looked like the lounge. Two agents stood at the edge of the balcony, keeping watch.**

**"That thing in your chest is based on unfinished technology," said Fury to Tony.**

"Are you allergic to pleasantries?" Steve grumbled before blushing when he realized what he had said.

Tony just laughed as the American Icon's words made Nick's mask fall for a moment. Long enough to see the disregard and regret mixing. The Director didn't have anything to say to that, ignoring the problem the second everyone's attention was away from him. 

**"No, it was finished," Tony replied, appearing to be wearing a satin bathrobe over a black shirt and jeans. "Never been particularly effective until I miniaturized it and put it in my-"**

**"No," said Fury. "Howard said the Arc Reactor was the stepping stone to something greater. He was about to kick off an energy race that was about to dwarf the arms race. He was on to something big - something so big that it was going to make the nuclear reactor look like a triple-A battery."**

**Tony had been eyeing Fury skeptically. Now he leaned forward and poured himself what looked like a cup of water. "Just him?" he asked. "Or was Anton Vanko in on it too?"**

**"Anton Vanko was the other side of that coin," said Fury, leaning back and turning his hand over as he spoke. "Anton saw it as a way to get rich. When your father found out, he had him deported. The Russians found out he couldn't deliver, they shipped his ass off to Siberia, where he spent the next twenty years of a vodka-fueled rage. Not quite the environment you want to raise a kid in - the son you had the misfortune of crossing paths with in Monaco."**

**Tony was frowning, and he pointed now at the other man. "You told me I hadn't tried everything," he said. "What do you mean, I haven't tried everything? What haven't I tried?"**

**"He said that you were the only person with the means and knowledge to finish what he started," said Fury, taking a sip of his own glass of water.**

**Tony obviously wasn't having any of it. "He said that?" he asked with a rather bitter smile.**

**"Are you that guy, eh?" asked Fury, leaning forward looking keenly at him with the single eye that seemed to pierce the soul and read the heart. "Are you? Because if you are, then you can solve the riddle of your heart."**

**Tony shook his head, and his mouth tightened. "I don't know where you're getting your information," he said. "but, um, he wasn't my biggest fan."**

Steve looked seconds away from defending Howard before he caught Thor's glare and just settled for staring menacingly at Tony. It took all of the billionaire's willpower not to laugh at the childish man. 

**Fury was still looking at Tony. "What do you remember about your dad, huh?" he inquired.**

**"He was cold, he was calculating," said Tony. "He never told me he loved me, he never even told me he liked me. So it's a little tough for me to digest - when you're telling me he said the whole future was riding on me, and he's passing it down - I don't get that. We're talking about a guy whose happiest day was when he shipped me off to boarding school."**

**"That's not true," said Fury matter-of-factly.**

"Wow, could you have been more of an asshole? Even if you tried?" Clint questioned sincerely, only his experience with reading people letting him see the way the Director twitched.

**"Well, then clearly you knew my dad better than I did," said Tony, leaning back in his chair.**

Clint nodded in approval at the way Tony was handling the man. Nick quickly realized that he wasn't going to get any support there so he turned to Natasha, only getting a neutral stare back.

**At that moment two more agents brought up a large grey case and set it on the floor near Tony and Fury, just as Fury put down his glass and said, "As a matter of fact, I did. He was one of the founding members of SHIELD."**

**"What?" Tony sat up, his eyes flitting between the grey case and Fury, who was actually getting up with the words "I got a two o'clock."**

**"Wait, wait, wait, wait," Tony protested, standing up and pointing at the grey case. "What's this?"**

**But Fury glanced at his wrist and said, "You're good right? You've got this, right?"**

"Seriously?" Wanda said outraged, her hatred for people doing shit like that overpowering her feelings for Stark as she defended him.

Fury just said nothing and stared at the screen until the movie started again. 

**"No, I'm not good!" Tony was obviously faking interest. "Got what? I don't even know what I'm supposed to get!"**

**"Natasha will remain a floater at Stark with her cover intact," said Fury, putting on his coat. "And you remember Agent Coulson, right?"**

**Both the aforementioned agents had appeared behind Fury in the meantime.**

**"Yeah," Tony agreed absently, still staring accusingly after Fury.**

**"Oh, and Tony," said Fury, pausing on his way out. "remember - I got my eye on you."**

"That's great. I bet you say that to all the girls," Tony said when it came into his mind, enjoying the way the Director's eye twitched. "Or boys, I don't judge," That was what broken the rest of the room, their barely held back laughter coming out while Nick just closed his eyes in annoyance. 

**And he inclined his head at such an angle as to almost dare Tony to remark. But Tony was still sticking to his flummoxed mask so he said nothing.**

**Fury turned and walked away, and Tony paused and glanced toward Natasha.**

**"We've disabled all communications," said Natasha. "No contact with the outside world. Good luck!" And she too walked away.**

Clint just looked at his partner in shock, unable to believe that she would be so uncaring and vindictive to Tony when he was literally dying. 

**Tony gave Coulson a don't-you-try-my-patience look with a muttered "Please." Then he said, "I need a little bodywork - I'll put in a little time at the lab. If we could send one of your goon squad down to the Coffee Bean, Cross Creek, for a Starbucks run, something like that - that'd be nice."**

**"I'm not here for that," said Coulson with his inscrutable smile. "I've been authorized by Director Fury to use any means necessary to keep you on premises. If you attempt to leave or play any games, I will tase you and watch Supernanny while you drool into the carpet. Okay?"**

"Did you know that with the Arc Reactor in my chest getting shocked by electricity can actually stop the magnet and let the shrapnel rip my heart apart?" Tony phrased it like an idle question but Nick understood.

The Director knew that Phil hadn't meant to make a death threat but he wondered how the hell the man could have been so stupid. The room was filled with tension as the movie continued. 

**"I think I got it, yeah," said Tony, only those who knew him would have been able to see the way he instantly lost any warmth he held for the man.**

**"Enjoy your evening's entertainment," said Coulson, and he too turned and walked off.**

**Left with no alternatives, Tony looked down at the case. It was mostly grey, with bright red clips. On it were the words PROPERTY OF H. STARK in bold black letters.**

**The chest plate was lifted from the Mk II, and Rhodey's brown fingers carefully removed the Arc Reactor from the socket in the middle.**

The tension didn't stop, if anything getting worse at the very visible evidence of Rhodey's betrayal. 

**"Think this is the power source?" Major Allen was hovering over Rhodey with obvious interest.**

**"Major," said Rhodey sternly. "This is not a scientific exercise. Let's just focus on arming it, all right?"**

**"Yes, sir," said the Major, and Rhodey stowed the Reactor out of sight. Just in time, too, because at that moment the voice of Justin Hammer echoed throughout the base.**

"Well, at least Hammer never found out about the thing that keeps me alive," Tony said, not even meaning it as a dig but no mad about it when Rhodey grimaced at the reminder. 

**"Oh, yes!" he cried jubilantly as he came up to the table on which the Suit lay around which Rhodey, Allen, and another man were crowded. "Oh, yes, yes, yes! Is it my birthday? You got it! What did you do? What did you do?"**

"Jesus Christ," Steve muttered, looking seconds away from jumping off the balcony to get away from the man's voice. 

Tony didn't even try to hold back his amusement, leaning against Thor as he laughed. 

**Hammer reached the table, two cadets pushing a large metal box behind him, and gestured to the Suit. "Is this what I think it is?" he asked, pointing to it and putting a lollipop in his mouth with his other hand.**

**"Yes, it is," said Rhodey with a smile that did not touch his eyes. "Hammer, I want to know what you're going to do for us."**

**"What am I going to do for you?" Hammer pulled the lollipop out of his mouth. "Well, the first thing I'm going to do for you is I'm gonna upgrade your software, and then the second thing I'm gonna do -"**

"The software? Jesus. That guy's a fuckin idiot," Tony muttered, looking pissed that the other man would dare mess with his suit but having to grin and bear it anyways.

Rhodey just closed his eyes and tried to ignore everything going on around him as his best friend watched a man that hates him mess with his technology while Rhodey stood there and let him. 

**"That's not what I'm talking about," said Rhodey. "Hammer! I'm talking about firepower."**

"At least he didn't let the guy mess with anything else?" Clint volunteered, jumping on the 'shit on Rhodey' motion with both feet. 

Tony just hummed in faux consideration. 

**Hammer, who had put the lollipop back in his mouth while Rhodey was speaking, now pulled it out again. "Well, you're talking to the right guy," he said as he crunched on the lollipop.**

"Bitch, you don't even have a license anymore," Wanda argued with the screen, getting Tony and Bruce to laugh harder than they had in a while. 

**And then, with a pair of white gloves on his hands, Hammer began to demonstrate his collection, which he had brought in the metal box. Rhodey and Allen looked on.**

**"Clearage high-tech semi-automatic nine-millimeter pistol -" he peeked at their unmoved expressions. "- too downtown? I agree." He put it down and moved on to the next.**

**"M-24 shotgun, pump-action -" He pumped it to demonstrate. "- five-round magazine - you know what, you're not a hunter. What am I talking about? I'm getting rid of it." He put it down.**

**"This is the F-N-2000, from Belgium - it sure makes something better than waffles! But I can tell this isn't disco enough for you, so I'm going to put it right here -" and he laid that one down too.**

**"You're looking at a mill-four military grenade launcher - tear gas, smoke, hippie control -" he waited for Rhodey and Allen to laugh at the joke. They didn't.**

Most of the room winced or cringed at the joke, silently agreeing to never mention it again. 

**"You're tough!" said Hammer as he put down the grenade launcher. "Let me tell you something," he added as he faced the military men again. "Size does matter, don't let anyone tell you different."**

"Let's agree to disagree," Tony muttered, looking beyond disgusted by the engineer on the screen. 

**"This is an M-134 762 minigun. Six individual barrels, a torso taker, powder maker - our boys in uniform call it Uncle Gazpacho or Puff the Magic Dragon." He waited again for some sign from Rhodey or Allen.**

**"Okay," said Hammer, and he put down the minigun.**

**Then he pulled out a small black case and placed it on the table. "This is the Cubans, baby, this is the Cohibas, the Monte Cristos." And he opened the case to reveal a small metal object shaped like - well, like a big cigar with a pointed end.**

**"This is a kinetic-kill, side-winder vehicle with a secondary cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine RDX burst," he said, handing the pointed metal cigar to Rhodey for a look. "It's capable of busting a bunker under the bunker you just busted. If it were any smarter, it'd write a book, a book that would make Ulysses look like it was written in crayon. And it'd read it to you."**

**Rhodey had handed the cigar-shaped thing to Allen, and Allen now handed it back to its maker. Both men still gave no sign of being impressed in the least.**

**"This is my Eiffel Tower," said Hammer, taking it back and holding it aloft. "This is my Rachmaninoff's Third, my Pieta. It's completely elegant, it's bafflingly beautiful, and it's capable of reducing the population of any standing structure to zero. I call it the Ex-Wife." Hammer brought it to his nose and sniffed it as if it were really a cigar, still eyeing the two military men.**

"Oh my god," Natasha whispered, looking seconds away from losing her mind. 

**"That's the best I got," said Hammer, and he put the Ex-Wife back in its case and shut it. "Are we gonna do this?" he asked. "Give me something here - you're like a Sphinx. I can't read you."**

**"I think I'll take it," said Rhodey, unsmiling.**

**"Which one?" asked Hammer.**

**"All of it," said Rhodey, and he turned and walked away.**

**Hammer blinked, obviously stunned. "All of it," he repeated.**

Rhodey just flinched at his attitude, resolving to ignore it for as long as possible. 

**In the darkness of his workshop, Tony opened the case Fury had left him. There were a number of things inside - a roll of something blue, an old brown journal, an old roll of film, and more.**

**The roll of blue turned out to be the very same Arc Reactor plans that they'd seen Ivan using earlier, with the names Anton Vanko and Howard Stark side by side. Tony unrolled the plans and looked over them for a few moments before setting them down. Then he took out a very old newspaper with the headline SOVIET SCIENTIST VANKO DEFECTS and underneath the headline a photo of a man standing over something that could only be a predecessor of the Arc Reactor.**

Nick and Natasha looked completely unsurprised, their lack of reaction telling him all he needed to know about whether or not they had gone through the boxes. He wondered what they had taken out, filing the information away to use for later. 

**Then Tony pulled out the roll of film, and the next moment he was playing it on a large screen over his desk.**

**A director's clapperboard appeared in front of the camera**

**It was in fact footage edited from the very clip that Tony had played earlier at the start of his Expo. A tiny model of the large Arc Reactor sat on a table, and Howard Stark sat on a desk behind it. He spread his arms. "Everything is achievable through technology," he began, rising to his feet and beginning to make his way across to the Expo model. "Better living, robust health, and for the first time in human history . . ."**

Steve looked awed to see his friend older while Tony just hid half his face in Bruce's neck and waited for the video to be over. 

**Tony was sitting back and flipping through the old journal, the pages of which were filled with equations and formulas, and taking notes on them. He wasn't really paying much attention to the screen.**

**Howard appeared to have made a blunder. "City of the Future, City of Tomorrow," he muttered, retracing his steps to just beyond the Expo model. "City of the Future, I think."**

**Howard poised himself to walk back in front of the model. "I'm Howard Stark," he began again. "And everything you'll need in the future can be found right here."**

**Just as Howard turned back toward the camera, the head and shoulders of a small boy who could only be a very young Tony popped up in the background behind the model.**

**Little Tony picked up a large circular piece from off the surface of the model as his father spoke on, completely unaware. "So from all of us at Stark Industries, I would like to personally -" But somebody must have pointed at the child, for he turned and looked behind him to see little Tony holding the circle.**

**"Tony, what are you doing back there?" asked Howard sharply. "What is that? Put that back. Put it back where you got it from!"**

**"Where's your mother?" asked Howard. "Maria!" he called.**

Most of the room grimaced at the rather obvious proof that there was no love lost between Howard and Tony, Steve looking ready to jump back on his high horse before he got a reprimanding glare from Wanda of all people. 

**A woman they couldn't see very clearly hurried into the frame, picked Tony up, and carried him out of sight.**

**"C'mon, go," said Howard, shooing the pair out of the frame. "Go, go, go." He turned back to the camera. "All right, I think we've got the, uh - I'll come in and, um -" He backed up past the end of the Expo model again.**

The room was dead silent as most had to change the way they saw Tony's relationships. 

**Then the film went through a number of different frames for a second or two, before another clip, this time of Howard drinking from a glass, began to play. "Are you waiting on me?" asked the voice of the cameraman. Howard merely held up a finger and continued to drink.**

**Then another frame of the old-fashioned film countdown appeared (3, 2, and 1). Then Howard appeared again. "So from all of us at Stark Industries, I'd like to personally show you -" He began to turn. "- my ass. I'd like to - I can't -"**

Wanda and Pepper looked seconds away from bolting while Bruce and Thor just looked vaguely nauseous. 

**The audience watched as Howard fumbled through yet another take, having come to the end of the written pages of the journal (the rest were blank). "We have this, don't we? - Everything is achievable through technology. Everything -"**

**Tony took a sip from a glass of his own, ignoring the video playing. He looked into the glass rather absently for a moment.**

**"Tony." Howard's voice calling his name caused Tony to look up automatically. Howard was staring directly into the camera so that it seemed he was looking across the years straight into the face of his son.**

**"You are too young to understand this right now," said Howard. "so I thought I would put it on film for you." He pointed at the model behind him. "I built this for you. And someday you'll realize that it represents a whole lot more than just people's inventions - it represents my life's work."**

**"This is the key to the future," said Howard. "I'm limited by the technology of my time, but one day you'll figure this out. And when you do, you will change the world. What is and always will be my greatest creation - is you."**

**The room watched, breathless, as Tony and Howard stared at each other through 35 years of time and a film.**

"See! He did love you!" Steve said, vindicated and missing the way most of the room just looked at him in disbelief. 

"One good thing about Howard was that he always said what he meant. That being said, he called me 'his greatest creation', not child or even son. That puts me on about the same level as one of his bombs," Tony shut the Captain down, satisfied in the way Steve winced as he realized a fraction of just how naive he had been.

**Tony sped down the lonely road by the sea. The top of the car was down and he was wearing sunglasses.**

**Tony pulled to a stop by a roadside fresh strawberry vendor.**

**"Six dollar, six," said the vendor.**

**"I don't have any dough, but -" Tony reached for the expensive watch on his wrist. "- here -"**

"You have got to learn the value of actual paper money," Bruce said with a longsuffering tone, not even having to tell anyone in the room that they had had the discussion before. 

**"No, sir, that's too much!" protested the vendor.**

**"No, it's fine," Tony held out the watch. "Take that, it's fine."**

**"No, Senor -"**

**"Take it, take it," insisted Tony, pressing it into the vendor's hand. "Ah, I don't like people handing me things, so if you could just drop that there, that'd be great."**

**Still, in obvious shock, the man put a box of beautifully red strawberries down in the seat beside Tony. He must have spotted something on Tony's side of the steering wheel, for he pointed and asked, "Are you Iron Man?"**

**"Sometimes," said the Iron Man as he started up again and drove away.**

**"We believe in you!" called the vendor as Tony disappeared into the distance.**

**And then there was Pepper in the office that had once been Tony's and was now hers. She was on the phone. "It was an illegal seizure of trademarked property," she was saying just as the great doors opened. Tony appeared on the threshold, strawberries in hand, accompanied by a receptionist.**

**"Miss Potts -" the poor woman looked flustered. Pepper looked up from the phone, obviously weary and stressed.**

**"Relax," said Tony as he entered.**

**"Mr. Stark -"**

**"Is here," finished Tony.**

**"He refuses -"**

**"I don't, it's fine," said Tony. "I'll just be a second. You are excused, thank you very much."**

**The woman vanished and shut the door.**

**Pepper held up a hand to Tony. "Listen," she said to whoever she was talking to. "it's our position that Stark has and continues to maintain proprietary ownership of the Mark Two Iron Man platform -"**

**It happened that on a side wall was a television, and on that television was a commentator by the name of Bill O'Reilly that Wanda had noticed once or twice before. "When Mr. Stark announced that he was indeed Iron Man," O'Reilly was saying. "he was making a promise to America. We trusted that he would look out for us."**

**"No, the Suit belongs to us," said Pepper into the phone. "Yes, but you're not - Burt - yes it does -"**

**"He obviously did not," the commentator went on. "And now we learn that his secretary, a woman named -" he shook his head derisively. "Virginia 'Pepper' Potts has been appointed CEO of Stark Industries. What are her qualifications?"**

"Damn," Rhodey commented, never having seen that particular news station. 

**"No," said Pepper sharply into the phone.**

**O'Reilly was still talking. "Miss Potts is doing nothing to manage the situation -"**

**"Mute," Tony commanded, obviously having had enough. He stepped to the other side of the office, there were a number of boxes and a tall something covered with a cloth leaning against the wall.**

**"No," said Pepper again. "Burt - Burt - Burt! Listen to me, don't tell me we have the best patent lawyers in the country and then not let me pursue this -"**

**"I'll get this stuff out of here," said Tony to Pepper, gesturing to the boxes and the tall covered thing.**

**"Well, then, tell the President to sign an order," said Pepper.**

**Tony pulled at the cloth covering the tall thing - it was in fact the model of the Expo that Howard had left him.**

**"We'll talk about it at the Expo," said Pepper. "Hammer's giving some presentation tomorrow evening. Will Tony Stark be there . . ." she looked at that gentleman.**

**"Will I?" Asked Tony rhetorically, not even bothering to tell her his opinion as he pulled up a chair in front of Pepper's desk.**

"Does she always speak for you?" Clint asked, ignoring the way Rhodey seemed to want to stand up for her before changing his mind. 

"No, I don't always spe-" Pepper started once she figured out the Colonel wasn't going to protect her.

"Yes, she does," Tony cut her off, barely holding back his laughter as she proved his point.

Clint, Tony, Thor, and Bruce instantly started cracking up, Natasha and Wanda hiding their smiles while Steve tried his best to look disapproving over his mirth. 

**"No, he will not," said Pepper.**

**"I would like to be," said Tony faux hopefully.**

**"Bye," said Pepper, and hung up the phone with a decisive click.**

**"Got a minute?" asked Tony.**

**"No," said Pepper.**

Pepper winced as she realized that Tony had probably been trying to tell her that he was dying, not seeing the billionaire's satisfaction as she started to understand just how bad she had treated him. 

**"Come on, you just got off the phone," protested Tony. "You're fine - thirty seconds."**

**Pepper looked down at her watch. "Twenty-nine, twenty-eight -"**

**"Oh, you didn't come here to apologize?" inquired Pepper with some asperity.**

**"Look, that goes without saying," said Tony "And I'm working on that. But I haven't been entirely, uh, upfront with you, and I just want to try to make good - okay, can I move this?" He pointed at a small revolving object standing on the desk between himself and Pepper. "This is crazy, it's like a Ferris wheel going, I'm trying to get some -"**

**"No," said Pepper.**

**Tony moved his chair around so that he would not be so directly bothered by the thing. "Do you know how short life is?" he asked, leaning forward earnestly. "And if I never got to express - and by the way, this is somewhat relevatory to me - and I don't care - I care, it would be nice, I'm not expecting you to - look, here's what I'm trying to say, I'm just going to say it -"**

"You should have just come out and said it. Maybe then I would have listened to what you had to say," Pepper said snidely, stepping down the second she realized that everyone was looking at her in some form of disbelief, not sympathy.

Tony was quiet, Bruce and Thor petting him until he finally lost his tension. 

**Pepper had obviously had enough. "Let me just stop you right here, okay," she said. "because if you say 'I' one more time, I'm going to actually hurl something at your head, I think."**

Both Pepper and Rhodey winced at that, seeing how petty they had been from the perspective of everyone else. Rhodey wondered why nobody had said anything before losing his breath when he realized that it was because they acted just like he had. 

Somehow, he had become someone that Tony felt he had to keep his masks up around and he hadn't even noticed until it was too late. Until he had done something that couldn't be undone. 

**Tony was muttering in protest, but Pepper was having none of it. "I am trying to run a company," she snapped. "Do you have any idea what that entails?"**

**"Yes," began Tony, hardening at the insult.**

"How could you possibly know?" Steve asked, trying to defend the poor girl.

"Because I had been the CEO since I was 21 before I handed the baton off to Pepper. I kept that company going for over 20 years and then she takes over for a couple of months and decides that she knows best," Tony said, allowing himself to be bitter after the way him hiring the red-head had backfired. 

He was glad to see that Rhodey and Pepper had gotten the message, both looking ashamed and embarrassed. He just took comfort from the way Thor and Bruce were caging him in. Their reassuring weight making him feel safer than he had in a long time. 

**"People are relying on you to be Iron Man, and you've disappeared," Pepper's voice was rising. "And all I'm doing is putting out your fires and taking the heat for it."**

If the room hadn't been quiet and tension-filled before then it was now, as everyone abruptly froze at her callous words. 

**Tony had been drumming his fingers on the desk, and now his fingers came down on the end of a pen, which flipped into the air. Pepper caught it and slammed it back down. "I am trying," she said. "to do the job that you were meant to do."**

**Tony put his head on his hand, and shut his eyes.**

**Then, probably for the first time, Pepper noticed the box sitting on her desk. "Did you bring me strawberries?" she asked, squinting.**

**Tony looked up hopefully.**

**"Did you know," Pepper's smile held no warmth. "that there's only one thing on earth that I'm allergic to -"**

**"Allergic to strawberries," said Tony, visibly deflating. "Uh-hm."**

"You couldn't remember the relevance between her and strawberries but you knew there was something. Right?" Bruce whispered to Tony, purposefully pitching his voice so that everyone in the room could hear it.

"Yep. Palladium made me its bitch," Tony replied, cuddling closer to his partners in thanks for defending him. 

**Pepper's cold smile remained.**

**"This is progress, Pepper," Tony spread his hands. "I knew there was a correlation between you and this," he gestured to the box.**

**"I need you -" began Pepper.**

**"I need you too," said Tony, sitting up. "that's what I'm trying to -"**

**"- to leave," finished Pepper. "Now."**

Clint whistled, most everyone in the room finally getting their minds back. Most people just silently agreed, all shocked at the side of Pepper they were seeing. 

**And then the door to the office opened, and Natasha, dressed professionally again, entered the doorway with Happy behind her. "Miss Potts?" she asked.**

**"Hi, come on in," said Pepper absently, looking down and starting to collect her things.**

**"Wheels up in twenty-five minutes," said Natasha, coming into the room and around to Pepper's side of the desk. She did not look at Tony.**

**"Thank you," said Pepper promptly.**

**"Anything else, boss?" asked Happy.**

**"I'm good, Hap," said Tony at the exact same time as Pepper said. "No, I'll need just a -"**

**And there followed an instant in which Tony and Pepper glanced at each other.**

**"Another minute," said Pepper primly.**

"That's especially petty," Wanda commented, the praise making the red-head flinch. 

**"I lost both the kids in the divorce," said Tony, and he laughed bitterly. No one else did, and Happy shook his head.**

Steve winced at the line, having heard Tony describe the Avengers that way and fully realizing just how bad everything had gone for the first time. 

**"Ah, no," said Tony, sobering again.**

**Natasha stood next to Pepper without so much as a look at Tony.**

**Tony cleared his throat. "Ahem - are you blending in here well, Natalie?" he asked.**

**Natasha turned and looked at Tony.**

**"Here at Stark Enterprises," Tony went on. "Your name is Natalie, isn't it?"**

**Natasha looked pointedly at Pepper.**

**"I thought you two didn't -" Tony pointed back and forth. "- get along."**

Bruce smirked at the way his partner was playing Natasha, loving the way Pepper paled a little as she realized what exactly Tony had been hinting at that day. 

**"No," said Pepper, handing Natasha a file. "That's not so."**

**"So it's just me you don't care for," said Tony.**

**Once again, no one saw fit to reply.**

**"No? Nothing," Tony threw up his hands.**

"Wanda was right, Jesus," Clint said, not quite believing how protective he felt of the misunderstood genius. 

**"Actually while you're here," Pepper stood up. "Maybe you and Natalie could discuss the matter of personal belongings."**

**"Absolutely," said Natasha.**

"Are you that desperate to get rid of every reminder of him? You've had that job for like a second and you're already acting as if you got there for any other reason than that Tony let you," Bruce commented, ignoring the room's shock at the normally mild man's comment.

**Pepper walked out of the office, Happy behind her. Tony watched the two until they were gone, then whirled back around to Natasha.**

**"I'm surprised you can keep your mouth shut," said Natasha.**

**"Boy, you're good," said Tony, faking obsession. "you are mind-blowingly duplicitous - how do you do it? You just tear things - you're a triple impostor! I've never seen anything like it - is there anything real about you? Do you even speak Latin?"**

**"Fallaces sunt rerum species et hominum spes fallunt," said Natasha smoothly and fluently, and she strode past him toward the door.**

**"Which means?" asked Tony, but she didn't stop. "Wait, what?" he called. "What'd you just say?"**

**"It means," said Natasha, pausing only for a moment. "either you can drive yourself home, or I can have you collected." And out she went.**

**"You're good," Tony called after Natasha again, but she shut the door behind her.**

"Why do you both deem to hate him when you do not even really know Son of Stark?" Thor asked, his formal language and genuine confusion making both the red-heads flinch.

Nobody noticed the dark look in his eyes that softened when Tony just held onto him tighter. 

**Tony turned back around in the chair and sat still for a moment. Then the little revolving thing on Pepper's desk offended him again, and he grabbed it and stopped it with a roll of scotch tape. He got up, taking the strawberries with him, and dumped them all into a little wastebasket near the corner where all his personal things were (except for one, which he put in his mouth). That is, he aimed the box at the wastebasket, but all the strawberries spilled onto the floor around it instead.**

Wanda sniggered like a child at the miss, Clint joining her until the entire room was ready to make fun of him. 

"All right, laugh it up," Tony egged them on.

**Tony had turned to the door and was about to leave when he seemed suddenly to remember the Expo model. He pulled the strawberry out of his mouth and gave it a closer look. Then he walked up to it and looked closely at one of the edges. There, on a small gold plate, were engraved the words THE KEY TO THE FUTURE IS HERE.**

**Tony pulled the cloth cover completely off the model and looked it over. He shut one eye and cupped a hand around the other, staring closely at the place where a model of the big globe sat, quite innocently. Then he pulled down his hand and opened both eyes, and the look on his face became sharply alert. Tony was driving back home with the model next to him. Of course the whole model was far too wide to fit in Tony's car in one piece, so it was in four pieces [not broken] stacked neatly in the passenger seat.**

"What did you see?" Steve demanded, Thor's sharp look getting him quiet when he missed the way the room had gone quiet. 

**In his workshop, Tony bent over the re-assembled model and blew the dust off it. "JARVIS," he said. "Could you kindly vac-U-form a digital wireframe? I need a manipulable projection."**

**A hologram with faint blue light began to scan the surface of the model, moulding perfect imprints of every building, shrub, and structure inside it. Tony snapped his fingers as he waited.**

"In 2012?" Nick asked in shock. 

"2010," Tony corrected, not bothering to put on an act. 

**"1974 Stark Expo model scan complete, sir," came the familiar voice.**

**"Uh, how many buildings are there?" asked Tony, actually reaching forward and picking up the hologram as if it were a digital tabletop before he carried the hologram across the room.**

**"Am I to include the Belgian waffle stands?" asked JARVIS.**

**"Ah, it was rhetorical," said Tony, lowering the tabletop hologram to about waist height and letting go of it. "Just show me." He snapped his fingers and flicked his arm, and the hologram spun horizontally.**

**"Uh-huh!" said Tony approvingly, and he tilted the hologram upward so that it was now 'facing' him rather than 'facing' upward. His eyes fell upon the model of the great globe. "Uh, what's that look like to you, JARVIS?" he asked. "Not unlike an atom . . . in which case the nucleus would be here -" He touched his forefinger to some point inside the glowing circle. "Highlight the unisphere," he said, and the globe turned bright gold.**

**In one swift motion, Tony opened the hand that had been touching the nucleus and lifted the other hand, drawing them apart and toward himself. The now gold digital globe enlarged itself accordingly. To the untrained eye, it looked like nothing more than a precise model of the globe at the real Expo, complete with the solid continents, but Tony was staring at it hard, looking like he was on the brink of something.**

**"Lose the footpaths," he said, and then when JARVIS was slow to obey, "Get rid of them."**

**"What is it you're trying to achieve, sir?" asked JARVIS as Tony made a sweep of his hand and eliminated all the highlighted footpaths.**

**"I'm discovering - correction, I'm re-discovering a new element," said Tony, looking intently at the enlarged globe-nucleus. "Lose the landscape, the shrubbery, trees, parking lots, entrances . . ." He flicked each layer away as JARVIS separated it from the rest of the image.**

**There was now nothing left in the hologram except for the globe-nucleus and several other spheres at various points.**

**Tony said, "Structure the protons and the neutrons using the pavilion as a framework."**

**And all the remaining parts of the hologram moved and flew onto the surface of the globe so that it now seemed to be covered with little lines and dots. It spun glowingly in front of Tony.**

**Tony clapped his hands and threw them wide apart. The globe exploded into almost the whole of the workshop, surrounding him with little points of blue light. He stared around at all the tiny, regularly placed protons and neutrons inside the exploded atom.**

Even Fury was amazed at the tech, looking in wonder at the lights and the fact that Tony had rediscovered a new element in 10 minutes. 

**Tony gazed in wonder at the structure of the newly structured atom. "Dead for almost twenty years," he said. "Still taking me to school." He gave a soft laugh of bitter memories and nostalgia, clapped his hands again, this time shrinking the hologram-atom into a ball the size of a quarter. He stared at it, still smiling.**

**"The proposed element should serve as a viable replacement for palladium," said JARVIS.**

Most everyone looked vaguely shell-shocked at how quickly Tony had found the new element. 

**"Thanks, Dad," murmured Tony, staring at the tiny hologram.**

**"Unfortunately," JARVIS went on. "it is impossible to synthesize."**

"Dammit Jarvis," Bruce cursed, understanding the gravity of Tony's need to do the impossible.

Tony just laughed at him, glad about the reputation he had built for himself. 

**Dum-E (or U) clicked its claw eagerly.**

**"Uh-huh!" said Tony, and he smiled. "Get ready for a major remodel, fellas!" he called as he got up and began striding toward the stairs. "We're back in hardware mode!"**

"Is that what happened to your lab? And the walls? And the floor?" Rhodey asked innocently, breaking the tension as everyone laughed.

* * *

_Only one more to go! (Roseriley0612@gmail.com) If you want to email me or comment any pairings/prompts that you would like to see from me. -Rose_


	8. Elements

**Tony was working hard.**

**He knocked a large dent in the wall of the workshop with a great hacksaw; he drilled a hole in the middle of the floor above with a jackhammer; he connected a number of cords to a box of power switches that lay on the floor; he threw the cords down through the hole into the workshop below where Dum-E stood at attention; he moved large boxes and pulled large, heavy pipes out of them. The beat of the music, which seemed to perfectly capture the hard-drinking billionaire in "work mode" was loud.**

"That's where your walls went?" Pepper asked, completely unamused and not thinking of the insinuation her words carried.

"I'm sorry, it was a bit of an emergency. Next time I'll make sure to focus on not making a mess," Tony said airily, not bothering to look at Pepper but knowing she was embarrassed and fidgeting. 

Bruce showed his approval by kissing the billionaire's neck, Thor holding him tighter at the reminder that he was dying. 

**Tony tore up the walls and the basement ceiling.**

**Then, at last, Tony appeared to have finished his alterations. The huge pipes seemed to feed into the room from various angles of the wall, balanced somewhat precariously on large piles of junk to keep them in position.**

**Agent Coulson appeared at the door of the workshop and keyed himself in. "I heard you broke the perimeter," he said.**

"Damn, where was he?" Natasha asked, hissing like a feral cat at the thought that someone had left their post. 

Nick just shook his head, not having been aware of just how much Tony had gotten done in the less than an hour time Coulson had been gone. 

**"Ah, yeah," said Tony, who appeared to be looking over his complicated setup. "That was like three years ago, where've you been?"**

**"I was doing some stuff," said Coulson, coming into the room.**

**"Yeah, well, me too," Tony said agreeably, pointedly not making eye contact with the man. "And it worked,"**

**Coulson stopped by one of the large wooden crates, which was open.**

**"Hey, I'm playing for the home team, Coulson," said Tony, placing a leveling ruler on top of one of the pipes. "You and all your fabulous furry freak brothers. Now, are you gonna let me work or break my balls?" He pulled a large metal piece from a plastic bag.**

Clint started laughing at that, so over pretending that he didn't think Tony was funny. Most of the room joined him, it wasn't the best line but the fact that the billionaire was saying it to Phil just made it amazing.

**Coulson meanwhile just lifted from the open box a thing that looked like Captain America's shield. "What's this doing here?" he asked sharply.**

**Tony turned to look. "That's it," he said. "Bring that to me."**

Steve looked more confused than anything, Tony smirking viciously as he remembered the next part. Bruce just shook his head fondly and shared a look with Thor as the billionaire stared Captain America down. 

**"Do you know what this is?" asked Coulson even as he walked it over to Tony.**

"Is that my shield?" The blonde asked the room, not seeing the way Tony's chest shook with silent laughter as he waited for the next scene. 

**"That's exactly what I need to make this work," said Tony, and he took it from the man and looked over it. "Lift a coil," he said to Coulson.**

**Coulson got his arms under part of one of the pipes and began straining.**

"Damn, he's stronger than he looks," Pepper said, admiring before blushing and looking away when she got several glances. 

**"Go, go!" said Tony. "Put your knees in it - there you go!" He slid the shield model right under the pipe on top of the pile of junk where Coulson was holding it up. "And - drop it - drop it -"**

**Coulson let go of the pipe, which sank back down onto the shield. Tony whirled around and grabbed the leveling ruler, which he placed on top of the pipe above the shield. "Perfectly level!" he said with satisfaction.**

"Did I just get demoted to metaphorically supporting Tony.?" Steve asked in disbelief, his facial expression making Tony lose it.

Bruce and Tony looked at each other, both trying to hold in their laughter before making eye contact and laughing hysterically. Natasha giggled before trying to reign herself in, the break in her stoic mask bringing everyone in the room with her until even Fury was chuckling. 

**Tony lifted the ruler and addressed Coulson again. "I'm busy, what do you want?"**

**"Nothing," said Coulson shortly. "Goodbye. I've been reassigned. Director Fury wants me in New Mexico."**

**"Fantastic," said Tony. "Land of enchantment."**

**"So I'm told," said Coulson.**

**"Secret stuff," Tony prompted, pretending that he hadn't seen the alert from Jarvis.**

"You already knew," Thor whispered to his brunettes, pride evident as he hugged them both closer to himself. 

**"Something like that," was all Coulson said, and he smiled his inscrutable smile again. Tony matched the smile, and glanced back meaningfully at his work.**

**"Good luck," Coulson was saying as he reached for Tony's hand.**

**"Bye, thanks," said Tony, shaking it after a calculated moment of hesitation.**

**"We need you," said Coulson.**

"He was really going for it. I don't remember that exchange being so painful," Tony said to his partners, smiling widely when he saw their mirth.

**"Yeah, more than you know," said Tony.**

**"Not that much," said Coulson, and he turned and walked away.**

Thor looked ready to electrocute someone, resolving to pull the smaller man next to him into his lap. Tony just laughed and nuzzled at the god's neck, settling back and holding hands with Bruce who snuggled right up to Thor. 

**Tony went back to work. He appeared to be putting the last pieces in place for what he was about to do. Sitting on a table in the middle of the workshop was a metal disc with a hole in the middle. In that hole was fixed a tiny metal triangle.**

**Tony flipped a switch on a panel, and the pipes running in a circle around the room began to glow with bluish light. A soft whirring whine began to echo around the room.**

**"Initializing prismatic accelerator," said JARVIS.**

**Tony went to one of the pipes which had a steering wheel affixed to the top, which he began to turn. The whirring grew louder.**

**"Approaching maximum power," said JARVIS.**

"What happens when it gets to max power?" Wanda asked, the air of someone who really didn't want to know. Tony just shook his head and pointed to the screen. 

**Tony appeared to be losing control of the wheel. He grabbed a big wrench and clamped the end of it around the wheel, and then pushed hard on the other end.**

**A thin ray of piercing blue light that was pointing out from somewhere just under the steering wheel began to move. It burned across a stack of books, a nearby beam (leaving a trail of fire), a metal box with a "FLAMMABLE" warning printed on it, and a stack of shelves.**

"ANTHONY ED-" Pepper and Rhodey shouted at the same time, already gearing up for their own lectures.

"Yes, mother, father?" Tony asked, his completely monotone voice shocking the pair off their high horses, before the realization set in.

Most of the room was looking at them in shock, not understanding how they can be so shallow. The hypocrites just started resolutely at the tv until it played again, refusing the acknowledge the fact that they never really cared about anything but what he could do for them. 

**Tony had gradually been forcing the tiny beam toward the place where the metal disc sat on the table. Now at last he had reached it; he guided it right over the side of the metal disc (it left a dark burn line behind), and at last, it hit one of the sides of the little triangle. The triangle began to glow.**

**Tony struggled with the wheel to hold the beam in place and waited as the triangle glowed more and more intensely till its light nearly drowned out the screen.**

"Where did you get all that muscle?" Clint said, faux seductively just for the way Natasha cringed.

"In a cave in Afghanistan," Tony said, leaning forwards as he used to when he was flirting with girls.

He basked in the way Clint didn't instantly jump to apologize, seeing another one-liner on the tip of his tongue before Captain Tightass stuck his nose in. 

"Say sorry, Clint. That was insensitive and rude," The Captain demanded, not seeing the incredulous looks from everyone in the room who had actually seen the conversation for what it was. 

Everyone ignored Steve, Tony idly watching the way he objected to being dismissed until the man finally calmed himself down and went quiet. The billionaire pouted at the lack of entertainment before Bruce pinched him to get his attention back on the screen. 

**Then Tony flipped a switch with a clank, and the light began to recede until the little triangle could be seen again. The metal sides were still glowing, but not nearly as blindingly.**

**"That was easy," Tony muttered, and he came up to the table and sat down before it. He pulled off his sunglasses and looked closely at the little glowing triangle. Then he picked up a pair of pliers and removed it, lifting it before his eyes to gaze even more closely at it.**

**"Congratulations, sir," said JARVIS. "You have created a new element."**

"Just like that?" Wanda asked, not understanding any of the science behind it and not realizing just how amazing what Tony had just done was. 

"Just like that," Tony agreed, proud of himself and happy with the way Thor and Bruce were holding him tight. 

**Then Tony was opening a new Arc Reactor. He pushed the triangle into a little prepared space in the middle, and let the case shut itself. The triangle's glow brightened again, and a tiny whine issued from the Reactor.**

**"Sir," said JARVIS. "The Reactor has accepted the modified core. I will begin running diagnostics."**

**In the privacy of a small workshop inside Hammer's facility, Ivan was at work on his own Arc Reactor. The little white bird was sitting nearby, preening.**

"The bird," Clint muttered, sending the room into another laughing fit. 

**Then Ivan touched an earpiece he was wearing, apparently to receive a call.**

**"Hey, Ivan," said Hammer, who was playing golf with Senator Stern with Jack carrying clubs and balls. "I got Senator Stern here. Thought we'd swing over and look at some of the drone designs."**

**"The drone is not going to be ready," said Ivan.**

**"Not ready? What do you mean?" asked Hammer sharply.**

**"I can make presentation," said Ivan. "Not demonstration."**

"He's enjoying that," Natasha muttered in delight, realizing the implication of the Russian knowing English perfectly only seconds after Tony and Bruce. 

**"What the hell is the difference?" demanded Hammer with a mirthless laugh of exasperation.**

**"Presentation," repeated Ivan. "No fly, no shoot."**

**"Bu- wai-wha- " Hammer spluttered. "Well, what can you make 'em do? I mean, this is a weapons presentation."**

**"I can make salute," said Ivan.**

**"You can make salute? What do you mean, make salute?" Hammer was clearly getting angry. "What the hell does that mean, Ivan? This is not what we agreed to, okay?"**

Tony started cracking up all over again, most of the team joining him in his amazement at how Ivan was winding the other billionaire up.

"I would kiss him if he wasn't dead," Tony promised, only laughing harder at the mixed reactions he got.

Most noticeably the way he was laying across Bruce and Thor's laps. 

**At this moment, the view in Ivan's little workshop began to expand, and they saw what was on the table in front of him - a long column with streams of electricity running along with it.**

**"You promised me Suits, and then you promised me drones," Hammer was still going on.**

**"Hey, man," Ivan promised, his exaggerated accent making it sound like he was just repeating what Justin had said to him. "Everything will be okay."**

Tony was completely relying on his partners to keep him from falling off the couch, his laughter not letting him breathe and only getting worst when everyone in the room joined him eventually. 

**"This is not what I wanted -" began Hammer, but Ivan touched his earpiece again and hung up.**

"He hung up on him!" Tony shrieked through his laughter.

**Then Hammer strode into his facility, two large men in black behind him. Jack was nowhere in sight.**

**Hammer and the two big men reached the room where Ivan was holed up and keyed himself in. "Hey, there he is," he said as he entered with the men behind him. "It's the birdman."**

**There indeed was Ivan, reclining against a wall, stroking a small white bird perched on his knee. He watched Hammer with a look that was so smug it was almost a sneer.**

**"Ah, thought you didn't like the bird," said Hammer, with a mirthless smile. "Is that right? Is that your bird? I'm confused." He shrugged and laughed. "You said it wasn't, but now it looks like you're best of pals."**

**Ivan just continued to eye Hammer.**

**"You love that bird, don't you?" said Hammer, and then he turned to his two henchmen. "You know what? Take the bird," he told them.**

"What the fuck," What echoed around the room. 

**One of the big fellows stepped up to Ivan and grabbed the bird, which cawed in fright as its captor stuffed it into a cloth sack.**

**"Hey!" shouted Ivan angrily, also sitting up.**

**"Take his pillows too," said Hammer. "Both of them. And his shoes, take his shoes."**

"Seriously, what the fuck," Clint said once again with feeling. 

**The men obediently pulled the pillows out from under Ivan's elbow, and the shoes from his feet (even they were tattooed!). Ivan made no move to stop them.**

**"I took your stuff," said Hammer. "How's that make you feel? You feel bad? Good. Because THAT'S HOW I FEEL!" He pointed to himself as he shouted, his mouth hanging open just long enough to make him resemble a toddler throwing a tantrum. "We had a contract! I save your life, and you give me Suits! That was our deal, and you did not deliver! I don't know if you're a genius or a fraud, I don't know what you are!"**

"Jesus Christ. I've seen children have temper tantrums with more class," Tony said absently, not even realizing that everyone had heard until the room was cracking up again. 

**Hammer clenched his hand and shook it. "Something really, really great fell into my lap," he said. "And if it hadn't, I'd be at your mercy tonight. Now I have a piece of Stark tech that I pimped out myself." He puffed out his chest with pride. "And now your overpriced paperweights are going to look like a backdrop to my demonstration. You dig what I'm getting at here?" He leaned down for effect.**

**Ivan spoke in Russian again, with the same scornful smile.**

Everyone who understood Russian laughed, not even able to answer Steve's demand for what he said over their amusement. 

**Hammer laughed. "I don't know if you know this," he said. "But I don't -" his voice rose to a shout again. "- SPEAK RUSSIAN!"**

Tony, Thor, and Bruce were off on that, having watched a show that said something very similar just yesterday. 

**There was really something rather funny about the man's petulance, and the way Ivan just looked supremely unconcerned.**

**"I'm going to leave now," said Hammer, buttoning his jacket. "And I'm going to go to the Expo. Maybe I'll even get laid." He pointed at the two men in black uniforms. "See these guys? They're your babysitters. They are not to be trifled with."**

"Yeah, ok," Natasha said, already knowing that Ivan was more than capable of getting past the bodyguards. 

**Ivan's eyes slid from one to the other of the two guards, and indeed he did not seem intimidated.**

**"When I get back," said Hammer. "We're going to re-negotiate the terms of our agreement. And you're going to make good on our arrangement. Because if you don't, you're going to be exactly what you were when I found you - a dead man. You got that?" He pointed to the television in the corner. "Maybe you can watch me on TV." And he turned and walked out of the room.**

"Tony was right," Wanda said, refusing to elaborate even when Steve stared her down. 

**The two guards looked at Ivan. Ivan looked back at them with a scornful smile.**

**"Dum-E, U," called Tony, still in his workshop in the garage of his mansion by the sea. "Can we clean up this mess? You're killing me, you know I don't -"**

**A notification dinged, and JARVIS said, "Incoming call from a blocked number, sir."**

**Tony turned round to his center desktop. "Phone privileges reinstated," he said. "Lovely." He leaned forward. "Coulson! How's the Land of Enchantment?" he asked.**

**"Hey, Tony," said the voice of Ivan, and Tony's demeanor instantly went cold. "How you doing?" The voice chuckled. "I double cycle."**

**"You what?" asked Tony.**

"Nice one," Bruce muttered, enjoying the way Tony blushed when he realized that he had given the enemy a way to improve his weapons. 

**"You told me double cycles, more power," said Ivan, sitting peacefully on the floor of the corner study with the bird on his knee and the two guards dangling from the ceiling behind him. "Good advice."**

**"You sound pretty sprightly for a dead guy," Tony commented lightly, silently curing himself for the slip.**

**"You too," said Ivan with another chuckle.**

**Tony muted his microphone. "Trace it," he said to JARVIS.**

"Oof"

**"Sir," said JARVIS respectfully, and one of the other computers began speeding away.**

**"Now the true history of Stark name will be written," said Ivan.**

**"JARVIS, where is he?" asked Tony.**

**"Accessing the Oracle Grid," said JARVIS, and on the other computer screen, the image shifted to North America, then zoomed in on the northeast corner of the States. "Eastern Seaboard."**

**"What your father did to my family over forty years," said Ivan. "I will do to you in forty minutes."**

**"Sounds good," Tony agreed, apparently having unmuted his microphone for a few seconds. "Let's get together and hash it out."**

**"Tri-State area," said JARVIS. "Manhattan and outlying boroughs."**

**"I hope you're ready," said Ivan softly, and he hung up.**

"Dumbledore, No," Clint muttered, getting a bark of surprised laughter from Tony and Bruce.

**Tony looked at his desktops in dismay. "Call trace incomplete," JARVIS confirmed.**

**Tony sat up, for a moment the picture of indecision, but at that moment his eye fell upon another of his screens. On it was an image of Justin Hammer.**

**Tony spun around, got up, and picked up the Arc Reactor with the new, still untested element.**

**"Sir!" protested JARVIS as Tony screwed the new Arc Reactor into his body.**

"Why the hell would you do that to yourself. You know bette-" Pepper started lecturing like a soccer mom.

"I'm sorry that I didn't want Ivan to kill a bunch of people. Next time I'll make sure to stand by while the Arc Reactor kills me," Tony promised, the complete sincerity in his voice hitting harder than if he had been sarcastic. 

**"You want to run some tests, run 'em," said Tony, panting a little. "And assemble the Suit while you're at it - put it together now."**

**"We are unclear as to the effects of -" began the AI.**

**"I don't want to hear it, JARVIS!" snapped Tony as he gave a slight cough as the new Arc Reactor began to brighten. The darkened veins around the socket all disappeared.**

Already so much better," Bruce hummed in delight, getting closer to Tony which pushed him farther into Thor's lap until they were all curled around each other in a ball of limbs. 

**"It tastes like coconut," said Tony. "Gah, and metal -" But he must have felt better at once, for he shouted, "Oh wow, YEAH!" as the light from the Arc Reactor engulfed the screen again.**

"You can taste it!?" Clint shouted, just looking more alarmed at Tony's secretive smirk. Most of the room either looked intrigued, disgusted, or some mix of the two.

**The scene switches to the Expo. Happy, Natasha and Pepper get out of a car.**

**"I'll keep the car down here, alright?" Happy said agreeably.**

**"Thank you, Happy." Pepper said, her and Natasha already walking into the building. "-Justin Hammer. His presentation will begin shortly in the main pavilion." An announcer says. Justin does a little dance as he gets on stage.**

**"Yeah. That's what I'm talking about. Thanks for coming." Hammer started.**

**Both Pepper and Natasha looked at the stage in confusion.**

"Seriously, what's wrong with that guy?" Steve asked quietly, only getting strained laughter in response.

Tony could see the way he was still sulking about not understanding and not having anyone to answer his demands, it only made his chest bounce in silent laughter. 

**"Ladies and gentlemen, for far too long, this country has had to place its brave men and women in harm's way, but then the Iron Man arrived, and we thought the days of losing lives were behind us. Sadly, that technology was kept out of reach. That's not fair. That's not right. And it's just too bad."**

"Wow," Someone said, the sentiment echoed through the room. 

**"Regardless, it was an impressive innovation, one that grabbed the headlines the world over. Well, today, my friends, the press is faced with quite a difficult problem. They are about to run out of ink.Get that out of here. Ladies and gentlemen, today I present to you the new face of the United States military. The Hammer drone. Army!" Hammer shouted as a set of drones rise from the ground.**

**"Navy!" Another set**

**"Air Force!" Another set**

**"Marines!" Another set "Yeah! Yeah! Woo! That's a hell of a lot better than some cheerleaders, let me tell you."**

"I think that I would actually choose the cheerleaders," Nick grumbled, grimacing at the thought.

Tony just smirked from his place between Bruce and on Thor's lap. 

**"But as revolutionary as this technology is, there will always be a need for man to be present in the theater of war"**

**Ivan was doing something on a computer.**

"That's not going to end well," Wanda said, her feeling confirmed when she brushed against Tony's emotions. 

**_"_ Ladies and gentlemen, today I am proud to present to you the very first prototype in the Variable Threat Response Battle Suit and its pilot, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes."**

**"What?" Pepper whispers as she watches.**

**Rhodey salutes, the drones on stage copying him.**

"Wow. How long did it take for Tony to forgive you for everything that happened in this entire movie?" Natasha asked seriously, only realizing that she had hit a nerve when she saw the way Rhodey cringed.

His face made it obvious that he had realized that the billionaire had never forgiven him for what he did. Tony just smiled serenely, refusing to so much as look at anyone in the room, his rage at his dirty laundry being aired carefully hidden.

**"** **For America and its allies, Hammer Industries is reporting for-" Tony flew in and landed in front of Rhodey.**

**"We got trouble," Tony told the other man.**

**"Tony, there are civilians present. I'm here on orders. Let's not do this right now." Rhodey chastised as Tony walked over to him.**

"Jesus, can you get your head out of Hammer's ass for a minute?" Clint muttered, only realizing the entire room heard it when everyone laughed. 

Rhodey and Pepper both just did their best to ignore everything going on around them. 

**"Give them a wave." Tony directed.**

**"Hey, all right. Yeah." Justin said.**

**"All these people are in danger. We gotta get them out of here. You gotta trust me for the next five minutes." Tony tried, wanting this over with.**

**"Yeah, I tried that. I got tossed around your house, remember?" Rhodey said bitterly, never noticing the way the billionaire's eyes lit up in rage.**

"Wow... Just wow. He was dying and you damn well know you would have never been able to take the suit if Jarvis hadn't been given the protocol to trust you and you chose to throw that in his face? Then?" Clint started, looking ready to hurt the man before Natasha just pinned him to the couch until the archer had visibly cooled down.

Steve didn't look at anyone, silently agreeing with Rhodey. 

**"Listen, I think he's working with Vanko."**

**"Vanko's alive?" Rhodey said in shock as Tony walked up to Justin.**

**"Where is he?" The billionaire asked Hammer.**

**"What?"**

**"Where's Vanko?"**

**"Who?" Justin asked, playing dumb badly.**

"How did he ever make it as a businessman?" Bruce asked in genuine confusion, the sincerity making Tony kiss him sweetly. 

**"Tell me," Tony said impatiently.**

**"What are you doing here man?" Hammer tried to deflect.**

**"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Rhodey shouted, alerting the people on the stage as the gun on his shoulder aimed at Tony.**

"Certainly symbolic," Clint said saltily from his place next to Natasha, both of them, Tony, Thor, and Bruce all enjoying the way Rhodey flinched. 

**"Is that you?" Tony asked, calculating gleam back in his eyes.**

**"No, I'm not doing that. That's not me. I can't move. I'm locked up. I'm locked up!" Rhodey shouted as the drones aimed at him as well. "Get out of here. Go! This whole system's been compromised!" The Colonel yelled.**

**Tony flew away, shouting "Let's take it outside," as he went through the roof, the drones and Rhodey shooting and making the glass from the roof break and fall.**

**Rhodey starts to fly as well, "No no!" He yells, then starts flying, the drones following.**

**"JARVIS break in, I need to own him," Tony commanded.**

**"Yes, sir," Jarvis said in his English accent.**

**"Tony, Tony, I'm locked on. I have target lock." Rhodey called out, following Tony and the drones following him all the while.**

**"On what?" Tony asked, playing dumb as he tried to find somewhere to lead them.**

**"On you!" Rhodey warned as the suit started shooting. "Tony on your six!"**

**They flew by a building, Rhodey shooting out all the glass as he went by. The drones that are still on stage start to walk off and out of the building. Justin just walked backstage.**

"Where is that weasel going?" Nick wondered out loud, several people in the room jumping at the reminder that the Director was there. 

**"What's going on? What's happening?" The man demanded, anxiously running his hands through his hair.**

**"The software's been overridden." One of the tech guys said.**

**"What? What do you mean it's been overridden? What does that mean?" Justin shouted in clear shock, starting the fidget.**

"Doesn't he have an engineering degree?" Bruce asked, not able to help himself.

"Supposedly," Tony said noncommittally, laughing with his partners after a moment of silence. 

**"I think he slaved the drones."**

**"That's impossible. Call the guards."**

**"All the phones are down sir," Jack cut it.**

**"Well, then call their... Call their cells." Justin suggested helplessly.**

"Are you sure?" Bruce double-checked, most of the room joining him and his partner's in laughing. 

**"Their cell phones are not working either sir," Jack repeated with smaller words.**

"He just sets himself up to be mocked," Tony said with a faux disappointed sigh. 

**"He's locked us out of the mainframe." The same tech guy said.**

**Pepper walked in with Natasha, catching the last couple of sentences of conversation.**

**"Who's locked you out of the mainframe?" Pepper asked.**

**"Please, please, go away. Go away. I've got this handled," Justin said absently, missing their looks of disgust.**

**"Have you now?" she asks.**

"I agree with her," Wanda said, looking completely disbelieving of the way that the billionaire was acting. 

**"Yes, I do. In fact, if your guy hadn't shown up, this wouldn't be happening. So, please, now go away. Thank you." Hammer said before** **turning to the man again. "Listen, we got to get these bitches out of here- What?"**

**Natasha grabbed him and slammed him onto the table, whispering menacingly. "You tell me who's behind this. Who's behind this?" She asks.**

Most of the audience cheered, laughter scattered in the joy. 

**"Ivan, Ivan Vanko." Justin squealed instantly.**

"Damn, that's it?" Steve asked, visibly disgusted at the man's lack of honor. 

**"Where is he?"**

**"He's at my facility."**

**Natasha let him go and walked away, Pepper calling someone as she followed. "I need NYPD please." She asked politely.**

**Justin walked over to her quickly, "No, no, honey. Don't call the authorities." He begged, nasally voice not helping his case.**

Most of the team had some form of disgust on their faces. 

**Pepper just ignored him, "Okay right away, right away." She started, covering the speaker with her hand as she hissed at Justin the 'step aside', walking over to the tech guy. "Tell me everything you know. Go,"**

**Tony was still being chased by Rhodey and the drones, Rhodey continuously shooting at him.**

**"How we doing JARVIS?" Tony asked a little bit out of breath.**

**"Remote reboot unsuccessful," JARVIS said, dismay barely hidden.**

"I am sorry, Sir," Jarvis pipped up, almost everyone jumping in some way.

"It's alright, J. It made everything more interesting," Tony said, only him and his partners having not flinched at the AI's voice. 

**The drones that were onstage made their way out of the building, starting to fire while Ivan just watched from his room, a small smile on his face.**

**Natasha walked out of the building casually.**

**"Nobody's answering the phone. What's going on?" Happy asked the woman he still thought was an assistant.**

**"Get in the car. Take me to Hammer Industries," Natasha demanded arrogantly.**

Most of the room stilled in obvious shock, never having seen that side of their teammate. The Widow just looked resolutely at the screen. 

**"Get in the car? Take me to Hammer Industries?" Happy repeated confused.**

**"Fine. You want me to drive?" The spy pushed, already getting into the back.**

**"No, I'm driving. Get in the car," Happy muttered, giving in.**

**They got into the car and drove away.**

**The drones were still shooting and people were screaming and running everywhere. They locked themselves onto the stairs and aimed at Tony, starting to shoot almost instantly. The billionaire dodged and they ended up shooting the drones following him. Other drones started shooting at the building. The kid from earlier, with the Iron Man helmet, gets targeted.**

**The kid raised his hand, Tony landing behind him and shooting the drone. "Nice work, kid," Tony shouted as he flew away.**

"Holy shit, that was Peter," Tony muttered to Bruce and Thor, sympathizing with their obvious shock. 

**"You got multiples coming in on you," Rhodey shouted, panicked.**

**"Let's get this away from the Expo," Tony just responded, not acknowledging the concern.**

**Happy was driving with Natasha in the backseat, not noticing as she took her hair down. "When we arrive I need you to watch the perimeter. I'm gonna enter the facility and take down the target," She commanded, starting to get undressed.**

"Manners," Steve said disapprovingly, his reprimand making the way Natasha winced slightly that much better. 

**Happy looked in the mirror at her, looking away once he realized what she was doing.**

**"Watch the road." She ordered.**

**Happy just muttering, "I got it, I got it," before focusing back on the road.**

**Tony flew over a road, then under a bridge, the drones still following him. He went over some parked cars, a few alarms going off, the drones flying over the cars causing more alarms to go off. The drones started shooting again.**

**"Listen listen, a pack just peeled off, they're headed back to the Expo," Rhodey said over the comms.**

**"Got it," Tony confirmed.**

**"I'm closing in on you. Ordnance coming in hot Tony. Watch it." Rhodey warned right before he started shooting, only managing to destroy a bunch of cars.**

**Happy pulled up outside Hammer industries, he and Natasha getting out.**

**"Stay in the car," Natasha said, tone implying that she's used to getting what she wants.**

**"I'm not staying in the car," Happy scoffed before looking at Natasha's new clothes.** **"What are you wearing? Look, I'm not letting you go in there alone," He said, attention split between the catsuit and his completely unneeded concern.**

**"You want to help? Keep the car running," She said harshly, already walking away.**

"Man..." Clint just said, shaking his head. 

**Happy just opened the door and walked in with her.**

**"Hey, hey, hey. You can't come in here," A security guard said, already moving forwards as if to stop them.**

**Happy just punched him in the face without a word. Natasha walked past with no concern for the other man, throwing something at a guard who got instantly electrocuted. Happy was busy getting beat up by the security guard.**

**Natasha jumped and knocked another guard out, sliding underneath another to come up and kick him in the groin. Another guard come at her, Natasha just swinging her legs around his neck and knocking him out with her thighs.**

"That's much more interesting to watch when there isn't actual danger going on around you," Wanda said, looking ready to beg Natasha to teach her. 

**Drones were still flying around the Expo, one crashing into a building. Ivan deployed another set of drones from the stage.**

**"Each set of drones is communicating in its own unique language." The technician said to Pepper.**

**"Well, choose one and focus on that," Pepper commanded.**

**"Have you tried Russian? Why don't you try Russian?" Justin pipped up from the back, the others in the room ignoring him completely.**

"My god. Has he ever been to school?" Bruce revised, laughing with Tony as his brain caught up with his mouth. 

**Happy was still fighting the guard.**

"Poor Happy," Pepper said sympathetically, most of the room silently agreeing but refusing to do it publically. 

**"Attention. We have intrusion on Grid W." A man said over a radio.**

**Natasha threw something at two more of the guards, knocking their legs out from underneath them. She fought three more guards all at once. She took down two more, Pepper spraying the last one right as Happy finally managed to take his single guard out.**

**"I got him!" The man said with pride.**

"Poor Happy," Clint repeated, getting nods of agreement.

Peper colored at the obvious reminder that she wasn't top dog. 

**Ivan pulled up the specs for a suit.**

"Oh, shit," Steve said, sitting on the edge of his seat. 

**Tony was still being chased by drones.**

**"Rhodey, you still locked on?" The billionaire asked for confirmation.**

**"Yeah," Rhodey said with hesitance, not liking the idle tone the younger man had.**

"That instinct to be cautious of that tone took years to develop," Rhodey said, taking notice of the way everyone saw his hesitation. 

**"Drop your socks and grab your Crocs. We're about to get wet on this ride." Tony said with faux cheerfulness.**

Most of the room started laughing at that, enjoying the billionaire's one-liners much more when there wasn't a life-threatening situation going on around them. 

**"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait." Rhodey disagreed, having no choice but to follow anyways.**

**Tony flew through the large glass globe, the drones following hitting different parts of it then promptly exploding.**

**Natasha opened the door to Ivan's room, guns drawn with Happy trailing behind her.**

**"He's gone." She said, more to herself than anything else.**

**She lowered her guns, barely hidden disappointment in every line on her face.**

"You were really ready to shoot something," Clint said, more fond than surprised. 

**"Sorry, buddy had to thin out the heard. What's your 20?" Tony asked right as Rhodey crashed into him.**

**They fell into the bio-dome.**

**Natasha did something on the computer.**

**"What are you doing?" Happy asked.**

**"I'm rebooting Rhodey's suit," Natasha muttered, visibly annoyed.**

**Rhodey and Tony started fighting each other then Rhodey started shooting.**

**"Tony!" The Colonel shouted as his suit powered down when the heads-up display was back he was lying on the floor.**

**Tony stood up with hesitance.**

**"Reboot complete"**

**A video of Tony appeared on the screen Natasha was looking at.**

**"You got your best friend back," Natasha said, voice condescending.**

Clint was once again amazed at this side of the Black Widow he had never seen before. 

**"Thank you very much, Agent Romanoff," Tony said, putting in the effort to try and be nicer.**

**"Well done on the new chest piece. I am reading significant higher output and your vitals all look promising."**

**"Yes, for the moment, I'm not dying. Thank you," Tony's voice getting progressively tighter the more he had to thank her for in the interest of social politeness.**

**A video of Pepper appeared on the screen at that moment.**

**"What do you mean you're not dying? Did you just say you're dying?" Pepper said, clearly geared up to start shouting.**

"That was a dick move, even for you," Clint said, disapproving of how blindly his partner hated Tony. 

Natasha just went blank-faced. 

**"Is that you? No, I'm not. Not anymore." Tony said, gritting his teeth at the power move the spy had just pulled.**

**Natasha just put in a lot of effort to look confused.**

**"What's going on?" Pepper asked.**

**"I was going to tell you. I didn't want to alarm you." Tony promised, beyond tired of having to deal with everyone else.**

**"You were gonna tell me? You really were dying?" Pepper said, refusing to let it go even when Tony was still fighting.**

"Seriously? They're in the middle of a huge fight and you're letting your ego distract him?" Bruce asked, disgusted that the woman could be so shallow and glaring at her. Thor was putting holes in her head as well. 

**"You didn't let me."**

**"Why didn't you tell me that?"**

**"I was gonna make you an omelet and tell you."**

"How you didn't realize at the moment is always something that I'm going to wonder about," Tony said to the red-head, the first sentence he had said to her in a long time not related to work. 

**"Hey, hey. Save it for the honeymoon." Natasha interfered, trying to make Tony feel indebted to her and missing the mark by a long shot.** **"You got incoming Tony. Looks like the fight's coming to you,"**

**"Great. Pepper?" Tony asked, trying to get over with the argument so he could focus.**

**"Are you okay now?"**

**"I am fine. Don't be mad. I will formally apologize-"**

**"I am mad."**

**"-when I'm not fending off a Hammeroid attack."**

**"Fine."**

**"We could have been in Venice." He said, less snide than he wanted to.** ****

Rhodey nodded in agreement, the man's opinion telling Pepper she had gone too far more than anything. 

**"Please."**

**Tony knocked on Rhodey's helmet, already talking** **"Rhodes. Snap out of it buddy. I need you. They're coming. Come on, let's roll. Get up."**

**Rhodey's face-plate lifted, "Oh, man. You can have your suit back,"**

**Tony didn't acknowledge the sentence, just helping him up, "You okay?"**

**"Yeah, thanks. Tony, look, I'm sorry, okay?"**

**"Don't be,"** **It was obvious Tony was through with people trying to talk to him.**

**"No. I should have trusted you more,"**

"My God. Can't you see that the guy just wants you to drop it?" Steve asked, before stiffening when he realized he had just defended Tony's boundaries.

The billionaire just laughed, albeit a bit hysterically. 

**"I'm the one who put you in this position. Forget it," Tony tried, wanting the guy to drop it.**

**"No. It's your fault. I just wanted to say I'm sorry,"**

**"Thank you. That's all I wanted to hear. Partner. They're coming in hot, any second. What's the play?"**

**"Well, we want to take the high ground, okay? So let's put the biggest gun up on that ridge." Tony said on the fly, both of them starting to walk in the same direction.**

**"Got you. Where do you want to be?"**

**"Where are you going?"**

**"What're you talking about?"**

**"I meant me."**

**"You have a big gun. You are not the big gun," Tony said snidely, already pretty sure the Hammer tech wasn't going to work.**

"You're in the military. You should know that his suit is the most advanced and he is the most trained for this situation and in the suit," Steve said disapprovingly, defending the military more than Tony. 

Rhodey just refused to acknowledge that the Captian was right beyond a badly hidden flinch. 

**"Tony, don't be jealous," Rhodey chided, completely condescending without even trying.**

Rhodey cringed at himself, never having noticed how bad he treated Tony. The Colonel turned to the billionaire before shutting up at the looks Bruce and Thor were giving him.

**"No. It's subtle all the bells and whistles,"**

**"Yeah. It's called being a bad-ass."**

**"Fine. All right. You go up to. I'll draw them in."**

**"Don't stay down here. This is the worst place to be."**

**"Okay, you got a spot. Where's mine?"**

**"It's the kill box, Tony. Okay? This is where you go to die." Rhodey said as the drones started dropping down.**

"And you didn't trust him enough to actually listen to him so now you're both in the kill box," Clint mocked. 

**They put their face-plates down and started fighting. Tony jumped up and hit one on the head and threw the others out of the way. Rhodey shot one to bits. Tony continued punching them, dodging a missile, and shooting one of his own back. He took out three of the drones.**

**"See that?" Tony asked, not wanting to deal with the silence.**

**"Yeah, yeah. Nice," Rhodey commended half-heartedly.**

**They continued fighting the drones.**

**"Rhodey? Get down." Tony commanded, Rhodey visibly hesitating before ducking down.**

Clint scoffed again, Rhodey practically hitting himself now that he could see himself from another perspective. 

**Tony used lasers to slice the drones in half as well as some trees.**

**"Wow. I think you should lead with that next time,"**

**"Yeah. Sorry boss. I can only use it once. It's a one-off." Tony said, not wanting to discuss his strategy with Rhodey.**

**Back at the Expo three cops arrived backstage.**

**"I told you that 5 minutes ago," Justin was saying.**

**"That's your guy there," Pepper said to one of the cops.**

**"Excuse me?" Hammer asked, scandalized.**

**"You are being placed under arrest."**

**"Are you kidding me?" Justin protested.**

**"Hands behind your back sir."**

**"I'm trying to help here. I get it. I see what you're doing. You're trying to pin this on me, huh? That's good. That's good," The billionaire was muttering to himself as the cops cuffed him.**

Most of the room was shocked still at the way the billionaire was trying to get out of an arrest. 

**"You're starting to think like a CEO, taking out the competition. I like that. You think you're making a problem for me?" Justin shouted as he was being led away, "I'm gonna make a problem for you. I'm gonna be seeing you again real soon," The man threatened.**

**Pepper just walked out of the building with three cops.**

**"When they get here, I think you should station them at the south, east and both west exits," Pepper recommended.**

**"We shut down the 7 train in and out of Willets Point already." A cop volunteered.**

**"Well, have city buses there to ferry people to operating lines."**

**"Yeah. Are you coming with us?" Another policeman asked.**

**"No, I'm gonna stay until to park is clear."**

"That is a beyond stupid choice," Natasha said, joining in the hate on Rhodey and Pepper train without a second thought. 

**"Head up. You got one more drone incoming. This one looks different. The repulsor signature is significantly higher," The man said as** **Ivan landed across from Rhodey and Tony. He had a suit now.**

**"Good to be back," Ivan said.**

**"Oh, this ain't gonna be good," Tony commented as Ivan took out his lightning whips.**

**"I got something special for this guy I'm gonna bust his bunker with the Ex-Wife," Rhodey said with flare, taking a few steps forward.**

**"With the what?" Tony asked, ready to facepalm.**

**Rhodey shot at Ivan, the 'Ex-Wife' easily bouncing off of his suit.**

**"Hammer-tech?" Tony asked, hiding his derision with ease.**

"Completely accurate for the guy," Wanda said, not bothering to hide her disdain for Justin. 

**"Yeah."**

**"I got this," Tony promised, as he tried to shoot Ivan in the head. Ivan just put his helmet back up.**

**The Russian started walking toward them, aiming at them both with his lightning whip. Tony and Rhodey ran in opposite directions. Rhodey started shooting at him.**

**Ivan whacked him with the whip as Tony flew over him, using the whip to pull him down. Rhodey just started shooting again. Tony flew toward the other man, Ivan knocking him away.**

The room was filled with tension, Thor and Bruce holding their billionaire close as they watched him fight for his life without being able to help. 

**Ivan tangled with Rhodey using the other one of his whips, yanking him forward and punching him away in one smooth move. Tony went over to him, letting out a fake battle cry before punching Ivan a few times. The Russian switched his attention to the billionaire, along with his whip, then steps on Rhodey. Tony yanked him off using the whip as leverage. Ivan caught Rhodey in his other whip.**

**"Rhodes, I got an idea. You wanna be a hero?" Tony asked, using the fact as a selling point.**

Rhodey winced at the jab, never even realizing that it was an insult until just then. Tony just shook his head, seeing the understanding in the Colonel's eyes. 

**"What?"**

**"I could really use a sidekick, put your hand up," Tony said as he puts his hand up, not giving any other warning.**

**"This is your idea?"**

**"Yep,"**

**"I'm ready. I'm ready. Go, go, go!" Rhodey said, locking himself in place.**

**"Take it!" Tony shouted comically before they shot at each other, causing a large explosion.**

Bruce just snorted at the line, using his amusement to hide the way his trembling hand was covering Tony's Arc Reactor just to assure himself the smaller man was still alive. 

**Tony stood up, Rhodey following his example and going to stand by him. They looked at Ivan, who was still lying down.**

**"You lose." Ivan just repeated.**

"How?" Clint asked in complete confusion. 

**The drones around them started blinking red.**

**"All these drones are rigged to blow. We gotta get out of here man."**

**"Pepper?" Tony asked as they flew through the bio-dome again. Pepper was still standing on the stairs when she noticed a drone by her, blinking.**

**Tony got to her quickly, lifted her up, and flew away just before the drone blew up.**

"Without him, you would be a splattergory picture," Bruce said in derision. 

**They landed hard on the roof of a building, the billionaire instantly setting her down as he took the helmet off.**

**"Oh my God. I can't take this anymore," Pepper said, looking ready to have a panic attack.**

"There's a pattern: Deciding you can't handle it the second it affects you," Bruce said, wanting to get the point across for good. 

**"You can't?"**

**"I can't take this,"**

**"Look at me."**

**"My body, literally, cannot handle the stress. I never know if you're gonna kill yourself or wreak the whole company."**

**"I think I did okay." The irony coming when one more thing exploded in the background.**

**"I quit. I'm resigning. That's it," Pepper said after a moment of disbelief.**

**"What did you just say? You're done? That's surprising. No, it's not surprising. I get it. You don't have to make excuses,"**

**"I'm- I'm- I'm not making any excuses," The women denied reverently.**

"That's literally exactly what you're doing?" Steve asked Pepper, his genuine question just making the red-head flush in shame. 

**"You actually were just making excuses. But you don't have to,"**

**"No, I wasn't making an excuse. I'm actually very justified,"**

**"Listen. Hey, hey. You deserve better,"**

**"Well-"**

**"You've taken such good care of me. I've been in a tough spot, but you got me through it, so... Right?"**

**"Thank you,"**

**"Yeah,"**

**"Thank you for understanding,"**

**"Yeah, yeah. Let's talk clean-up,"**

**"I'll handle the transition. It'll be smooth,"**

**"Okay. What about the press? Because you only had the job for a week. That's gonna seem-"**

**"Well, with you it's like dog years,"**

"Ouch," Clint said, his tone making it seem like a joke but every line in his body pissed. 

**"I know,"**

**"I mean, it's like the Presidency,"**

Nick literally chuckled at that, more in scorn than anything but Tony took it as a win when Pepper winced. 

**They had been getting steadily closer as they talked, finally kissing after the last sentence.**

**"Weird," Tony commented, feeling out the mood.**

**"No, it's not weird," Pepper corrected.**

**"It's okay right?"**

**"Yeah,"**

**"Run that by me again," Tony asked of her, leaning in to kiss her again.**

**"I think it's weird," Rhodey, who has apparently been there the whole time, inputted. "You guys look like two seals fighting over a grape," He mocked cheerfully.**

Tony laughed, liking the line even if it was a bit malicious. 

**"I had just quit, actually," Pepper defended**

**"Yeah, so we're not-" Tony chimed in**

**"You don't have to do that. I heard the whole thing," Rhodey promised, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else.**

**"You should get lost,"**

**"I was here first. Get a roof,"**

Most of the room was laughing then, not noticing the way Tony was completely insincere in his actions as the tension started to relax. 

**"I thought you were out of one-liners," Tony mocked back at him.**

**"That's the last one,"**

**"You kicked ass back there, by the way."**

**"Thank you. You too. Listen, my car got taken out in the explosion, so I'm gonna have to hang on to your suit for a minute, okay?"**

"What's another couple of decades?" Tony said, not bothering to hide his disdain. 

**"Not okay. Not okay with that,"**

Rhodey winced, seeing now that Tony really hadn't been ok with it and wondering how he could have been so blind. 

**"It wasn't a question," Rhodey said as he flew off, claiming the last words for himself like a literal child.**

**"How are you gonna resign if I don't accept?" Tony asked Pepper once they were alone again.**

**The scene changed, Tony sitting alone at a table. He picked up a file that read 'Avengers initiative preliminary report' deliberately playing into Fury's hand and almost smirking when the man stopped him.**

Natasha and Nick winced, having hoped that the movie wouldn't show this part but more than aware that they wouldn't be able to hide the extent of their manipulations. At the visible reaction, everyone watched that much closer. 

**"I don't think I want you looking at that. I'm not sure it pertains to you anymore. Now this, on the other hand, is Agent Romanoff's assessment of you. Read it," Fury demanded, handing the billionaire a new file.**

**"'Personality overview. Mr. Stark displays compulsive behavior.' In my own defense, that was last week. 'Prone to self-destructive tendencies.' I was dying. I mean, please. Aren't we all? 'Textbook narcissism'? Agreed. Okay, here it is. 'Recruitment assessment for Avenger Initiative. Iron Man? Yes.' I gotta think about it." Tony started, being as annoying as possible and waiting for the moment that Nick was going to dangle it above his head like a carrot on a stick.**

**"Read on."**

**"'Tony Stark not... Not recommended'? That doesn't make any sense. How can you approve me but not approve me?" Tony asked, using logic in a way Nick clearly hadn't ever seen before arguing, knowing that it was what was expected of him.** **"I got a new ticker. I'm trying to do right by Pepper. I'm in a stable-ish relationship."**

Steve looked completely humiliated, realizing that he had been played in a rare moment of intelligence. 

**Fury just stood up before sitting on the corner of the table, a calculating move meant to assert dominance that only made Tony more amused over the hurt of Natasha's words that he had hidden.**

**"Which leads us to believe at this juncture we'd only like to use you as a consultant." Fury said, not realizing he had just shown Tony his entire plan. Tony stood up and shook hands.**

**"You can't afford me." Tony started, walking away before stopping again, "Then again, I will waive my customary retainer in exchange for a small favor. Rhodey and I are being honored in Washington and we need a presenter."**

**"I'll see what I can do." Fury promised, thinking that he had gotten away with the manipulation and never realizing that Tony had been able to read the spy since he was known to the Stark heir as 'Uncle Nick'.**

**Senator Stern can be seen standing at a podium, he looked like he was constipated as he started speaking.**

**"It is my honor to be here today to present these distinguished awards to Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes and Mr. Tony Stark who is, of course, a national treasure,"**

Most of the room instantly broke into hysterical laughter, Tony included. He hadn't been able to show his mirth the first time it happened but it was still there. 

**Stern walked over to them, pinning something on Rhodey's suit. "Thank you, Lieutenant Colonel, for such an exceptionally distinguished performance. You deserve this," he said, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else.**

**"Thank you, sir," Rhodey said respectfully as Stern walked over to Tony.**

**"Mr. Stark. Thank you for such as exceptionally distinguished performance. You deserve this," He said sadistically as he stuck Tony with the needle. The billionaire obligingly winced, willing to give a little over his joy. "Oh, sorry. Funny how annoying a little prick can be, isn't it?" The Senator paused for a moment to let the dramatic speech land before resuming his duties. "Let's get a photo."**

"He's so petty," Wanda shrieked through her laughter. 

When everyone finally started to calm down someone said 'little prick' and it started all over again. The room cracking up and calming down until someone said the trigger word and it started all over again. By the time everyone stopped laughing they all had stitches in their sides. 

**The scene changed again, a car driving through a desert. Coulson stepped out of the car and looked at a large crater.**

**"Sir, we've found it." He affirms into his phone, the camera panning out to show Thor's hammer.**

"So that's where that went," Tony said with a faux disdainful sniff. 

Everyone was laughing again. Tony knew that nothing would change, like last time everyone would go right back to the way they were before within the month. He was thankful that he had Thor and Bruce with him, maybe even Clint, but he wasn't counting on it. 

It wasn't perfect but he was happier than he had ever been.

* * *

_Oh My Lord. These things always take me forever to do. Hope you enjoyed it. I don't have any plans to do anymore 'Avengers React' at the moment but I'm not completely opposed. (Roseriley0612@gmail.com) You can email or comment any pairings/prompts that you would like to see from me. I always appreciate the feedback. -Rose_


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